The Other Me
by Sci-Fi Raptor
Summary: Keitaro's snapped. Never more will he stand the punishments of the Hinata 'girls.' Poor gentle Keitaro's turned to the dark side. Read the story that records our favorite pervert's spiral into darkness, a path that may very well end with his own life.AUis
1. Crossing The Rubicon

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Four:** Crossing The Rubicon

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Love Hina or its characters. Ken something-or-other does!!!_

_Update: I do also not own the characters and ideas from Bleach, Punisher, Pokemon, Naruto, Negima and The House of Flying Daggers. Those intellectual properties are owned by their respective owners. Everything else is MINE!!!._

_NOTE: RATED R FOR CONTENT, LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE_

_This is the daughter story of The Straw That Broke The Pervert's Back. The first three chapters are exactly the same as it so you have to read those chapters from that story if you have just started..._ _otherwise you will be confused. (It would also be nice if you read that in its entirety too...)_

I think this is a nice way to actually start off this dark fic. Remember, **THIS FIC IS RATED R.** I don't know where I got this stuff from…

(-O-)

_Early on the morrow an abiding Punishment seized them:_

_"So taste ye My Wrath and My Warning."_

(O)

Keitaro was in a very bad mood. He had already made this trip the day before, only to find out that he wasted four hours of his life because the attendant at the clinic forgot to put him on the roster. And not only did he have to wake up really early this morning to make the only train that would make it early enough for him to make his appointment at the clinic, it was stalled en-route, and he had to stand the whole time with everyone packed in tight.

But on top of that, once he arrived at the clinic, five minutes early to his appointment, he had to wait in line to be called before the doctor would see him. Finally, the doctor had seen him and confirmed that it was okay (though miraculous) for him to take his cast off.

But this IDIOT forgot to order the de-casting equipment and it would take another half an hour before it would all arrive. It had already been five hours since Kietaro had to wake up and, needless to say, he wasn't a happy little boy anymore. In fact, he was ready to snap the doctor's neck.

And he knew the doctor knew what his thoughts were, from the way his eyes shifted and his face sweated from his nervousness.

An attendant came in and whispered something into his ear before she left. The doctor glanced at him and visibly tensed up with, seeing how his back suddenly bolted upright. He sat there for a few moments, his face clearly showing that he was debating something in his head.

Finally managing to find the courage to speak, the doctor informed him that he would be waiting fifty minutes instead of thirty. He started sweating even more as he waited for Keitaro's reaction.

And what he thought would have happened wasn't far from what did.

"God… Dammit!" Kietaro exclaimed, slamming his casted arm into the cold metal table he was sitting on. He finished cursing after he slammed, since he actually said a long string of cursed before the 'Dammit' part.

The doctor stood up, clearly about to leave the room in fear, but stopped. He noticed Kietaro's cast had all but shattered and the doctor part of him came back.

"Is your arm okay?" he asked worriedly, inspecting the arm.

"Yeah…" Kietaro said, almost as surprised over what had happened as the doctor. The doctor certified that his arm was healed and hadn't incurred any more damage and cleaned up the remaining casting. When he was done, he told Kietaro that he could leave.

"Um… how much do I owe?" he asked, a bit embarrassed over what had happened.

"Er… nothing," he said nervously, the events that just occurred finally sinking in. "Its alright, you can just leave."

"But…"

"Its okay, its on me," he said and gave him a half-sincere smile.

"Hai," he said, and made for the door. He muttered an apology as he left and made his way to the exit. As he left, he noticed some people giving him weird looks, and decided it was probably because of all the… noise he was making.

It felt good to have his arm back; he didn't feel so vulnerable anymore. He took out his wallet to see if he had enough money to have some breakfast before his train-ride home, but growled in frustration when he came short.

(O)

The four had been looking for a victim for the better part of an hour now. They didn't have any reason. They didn't need money or anything; they were just bored. As they patrolled the streets, one of them noticed a scrawny looking guy fumbling with his wallet.

"Hey, Azuka, what about that little prick?" Nanise asked, the smallest of the group.

"Yeah," Sakura, the only female, agreed. "He just came out of the clinic, so he must have something wrong with him. And he is really scrawny, so he should be an easy job."

"Yeah," Azuka, their leader, agreed. "I haven't had a good laugh in while anyway."

Haru, the largest of the group just grunted.

In agreement about who their target would be, they started stalking Kietaro, waiting for the perfect place to corner him and attack. After a few minutes, they noticed an alley that would be perfect to ambush him in, so they started maneuvering towards him. When they were right next to him, and the alley was just in reach, the biggest of the three "accidentally" bumped into him.

It was obvious that he didn't bump into Kietaro, since he was sent into an open place within the alley that was obscured from the outside due to the narrowness of the alley that led to it.

Kietaro, helped up by one of the goons, got back to his feet. Amicable by habit, he automatically apologized.

"You know, my jacket got dirty from that little fall," Azuka said. Clearly, his old jacket wouldn't be any worse off if it did get any dirtier.

"Oh," Kietaro said, still in a somewhat good mood from the loss of his cast. He was still as dense as ever too!!! (Author growls in frustration at this impediment!)

"I feel bad, so how about I just pay you for it," he said, taking out his wallet. "How much will it cost to fix?" he said.

The goons stood there in stunned amazement. Did this little punk not know that he was being mugged, or was he just messing around with them? From the look on his face they assumed the former and broke into fits of laughter.

"What's so funny?" Kietaro asked a bit angrily now, sensing that they were laughing at his expense. His question just made them laugh harder, causing the smallest one to roll on the floor, clutching his stomach and the lone female to gasp for air. The largest guy just chuckled as the last guy put a hand on a nearby wall as he hammered it with the other. Finally, one of the goons partially recovered from his bout of laughter and stood next to Kietaro, putting his arm around Kietaro as if he were a friend.

"I _knew_ that he would be funny!" Azuka said to the other two between chuckles. Kietaro got nervous with how the four were acting. _As if this weren't an accident._

"Wow boss, you sure have a good eye," the smaller goon said, Sakura helping him up from the floor. The biggest goon just grunted, the laughter long gone from his system.

"Anyway, about the jacket," Kietaro said a bit impatiently.

"Yes, about the jacket," the guy next to him said, getting off of his shoulder and stood in front of him. Kietaro could see the other three covering his back from the corner of his eyes, blocking any escape. The guy in front of him snatched his wallet from his hand and scanned its contents (counting the bills and noting the cards and such).

"I don't think you have enough to cover for my jacket," he said bluntly.

"What!" Kietaro exclaimed in disbelief.

Azuka raised an eyebrow, as if he didn't expect to be questioned.

Keitaro continued, "I have enough in there to get a few of your goddamn jacket!", angrily this time.

"Yo, Azuka, he just dissed you," the female taunted. "You just gonna let him get away with that?"

"Of course not," Azuka said, jabbing Kietaro in the stomach out of nowhere. "No one disses a soldier of the Yakuza and gets away with it," he finished, eyes full of ill intent. He brushed his hair back as if what he did was no big deal. The other two men took their positions for the mugging, while Sakura stood back and watched. She had a big goofy smile on her face from the anticipation of what was to come.

Normally, if someone, especially someone like Kietaro, found out that he was being attacked by Yakuza, that person would naturally either submit to their wishes or attempt to escape.

But not Kietaro. Not now, not ever. As he tightly clutched the place he was jabbed with both hands, he could feel something inside him suddenly wake up from a cursed slumber.

"What's wrong, tough guy?" Azuka taunted Kietaro after a long pause. Kietaro slowly released the grip he had on his stomach, a strange grin growing on his face.

"Nothing," he said, suddenly standing erect. He wiped some blood from his lip with his right hand and surveyed the smear on it. His eye twinkled for some reason, confusing Azuka a little.

He was about to say something, but out of nowhere, Kietaro head butted him in the stomach. Azuka violently bowed forward from the impact.

"What the f-" Azuka exclaimed as Kietaro suddenly held him in the air with one arm. His hand was painfully crushing his Azuka's neck. Slowly looking up, Kietaro locked his eyes onto his prey's. The eyes that stared back pleaded for him to let go of its owner's neck. Kietaro just gave him an unmerciful glare.

"Who the fuck does this guy think he is???" Nanise thought out loud as he and his accomplice scrambled to free their leader. Sakura stood paralyzed in fear. This had never happened. They had all stood in shock as this scrawny little man managed to surprise attack one to the Yakuza's best lieutenants. Haru tried to pry Kietaro's grip off of Azuka's neck while Nanise assaulted him.

It worked; Kietaro was forced to let go of Azuka's neck, dropping his crumpled form as he moved to deal with the smallest of the three.

Haru went over to his boss and helped him stand up, but stepped back when he saw the blood gushing out of his mouth. Azuka had his hands around his neck, as if someone were still choking him and his face started to go deathly pale. Haru moved again to try and help him, but Azuka slacked, fainting from the lack of oxygen because of all of the blood that had filled his lungs. While he lay still, Haru could hear him wheezing like a chicken that had its neck sliced.

Meanwhile, Nanise had already drawn his Katana and was waving it at Kietaro in a dangerous stance. To his surprise, and somewhat to his horror, Kietaro didn't even flinch. He just stood there, grinning like he was waiting for him to attack, as if this were just any other day.

Knowing full well that no one could face a person with a katana unarmed, Nanise charged in, saying, "Now you'll see why no one fucks with the Yakuza!" He stabbed forward, and prepared to kick to the side. H expecting Kietaro to dodge to his left, since a wall blocked his right, but met nothing but air.

To his horror, Kietaro went head on into the Katana attack, coughing up blood as muscles and organs were sliced. His Katana was lodged in Kietaro, and he was in the middle of an attack the met only air; Nanise was in the worst possible position.

Kietaro punched him in the face, causing Nanise to fall onto his back, painfully shattering the back of his skull from the impact.

Kietaro pulled the Katana out of his ribcage, making horrible ripping noises as it cut his internal organs even more. He held the Katana high in the air above Nanise's shoulder, not seeming to care that his own blood was gushing like a waterfall from his wounds onto Nanise's chest. He saw the look of total loss in Nanise's eyes and answered back with amused eyes. His face suddenly sobered and he brought the polished, bloodstain and deadly piece of steel down swiftly.

The blood that gushed out of Nanise's wound just added to the pool of blood that was still spilling from his skull.

By now, Haru had watched his boss faint and noticed Kietaro do his fishing move on Nanise. He screamed in rage, causing the alley to vibrate from his powerful vocals.

He cornered Kietaro deeper into the alley's dead end and forced him to attack head on. Kietaro made the ill-fated decision of attacking first, his pride blinding him. Haru easily anticipated the hook he was about to deliver and grabbed it in the air. Kietaro tried to push forward, but the hulk was just too strong. Haru grinned as cracking sounds could be heard from Kietaro's fist. Screaming in agony, Kietaro kicked him in the crotch, causing Haru to release his hand. Haru moved back, thighs positioned protectively. He swore like a sailor and did his best to drown away the wall of pain. Kietaro, on the other hand, had miraculously composed himself and gave a look that dared Haru to attack.

Out of the corner of his eye, Haru saw the mangled body of his best friends and started boiling. He charged Kietaro's bloodied form, intending to use his momentum to pin Kietaro into the wall behind him and exact revenge from that point. But Kietaro suddenly gained abilities he never thought he would ever have. He jumped above Haru, just as he was about to make contact, and kicked him in the head. Haru stumbled forward, crashing headfirst into the wall where Kietaro was supposed to be pinned.

With the grace of an acrobatist, Kietaro landed behind Haru, gracefully on his feet. He felt a sharp prick along his left cheek as something hot and fast rubbed across it. Seconds later, the gunshot registered. Kietaro slowly turned his head to find a shaken Sakura pointing a Bretta 92 at him.

"G-g-get away from here," she said nervously, her eyes tearing. "I swear, I'll shoot!" she pleaded. What Kietaro did next surprised her so much, that she lost hold of her gun.

His eyes suddenly dilated as his scary grin turned into an evil smirk. Before the gun even clattered off of the floor, Kietaro was behind her. His left arm was pinning her arms to her side, while his right arm held a shard of glass millimeters from her jugular. She felt a sharp prick as the tip of the glass penetrated her skin.

"Now…" Kietaro said evilly. "We can do this the easy way," he said, putting his left hand on her breast. "Or the hard way," he finished, putting more pressure to her neck.

"I'll do anything you want!" she pleaded, scared out of her mind.

When she joined Azuka's gang, it was merely a hospitality the Yakuza had done for her father, one of its prominent figures. She was sent to learn their ways for when she would take over. She had just started and was still used to being pampered and getting what she wanted. She was just there to watch at this point, she was never supposed to do anything. Or get anything done to her…

"Good…" he said, relaxing the pressure of his right hand. "I'm going to let you go. If you try to run away or scream… lets just say that you don't want to find out… Okay?"

"Uh-huh," she said, crying. He let her go and she stood in front of her while he checked her out.

"Nice," he said after examining her perfect curves. By now, she had stopped crying, too proud to let him see any more of her fear, though it was still there. She stood there silently; she glared at her captor while, she assumed, his eyes stripped her. He took a step forward, causing her heartbeat to go from zero to sixty in under a second. He took the shard and slowly traced her collarbone down to her breasts. For some strange reason, she found herself turned on, noticing it when she felt wetness near her crotch. Kietaro stopped the shard where it met her shirt and looked her in the eyes. Gazing into them, she could tell he was thinking something. Suddenly smirking, he made a swift move and made a perfect vertical cut down her shirt, splitting it and her bra in two.

Naturally, she turned around and covered her chest with her arms, but stiffened when she remembered her situation. She looked back and saw all of Kietaro's malice gone. Instead, his face was completely professional as if he were doing a business deal. He walked towards her, paralyzing her instantly. Her head was still turned towards his face, so she could see that evil smile coming back to his face. He gently hugged her from her back and put his mouth close to her ear. Her body shuddered from the sensations that her ears felt from his hot breath caressing it.

"Remember, you said you'd do anything, correct?" he breathed, bringing his hands down lower.

Overwhelmed from too much input, she could only nod.

"Then you're gonna do exactly what I say, okay?" She nodded again. He moved his lips mere millimeters from her ear. "Get… the _fuck_… out of my face!" he said, shoving her away.

The sudden movement had caught her by surprise, so she stumbled forward, crashing into a wall. She did her best to get back on her feet and looked at her captor with confusion.

"What are you waiting for?" he screamed at her. "You wanna die?" he said, showing her the glass shard again.

Her eyes opened into circles as she remembered the feeling of the glass on her neck and was paralyzed again. Seeing that she wasn't moving, Kietaro walked up to her, giving her a look that could kill.

She begged her legs to move, but they wouldn't budge. Defeated, she just closed her eyes and started to cry again, apologizing to all those she had wronged. Once again, she felt his hot breath against her ear again, causing her heart to flutter.

"Remember to tell your boss what happened here," he whispered. "Remember to tell him about me and what happens if you screw with me."

"W-what's your n-name," she asked, her training starting to come back to her.

"Its Kietaro," he whispered into her ear. "Urishima Kietaro." Hearing that, Sakura broke into a sprint and left the alley before he did anything else to her.

Satisfied with his work, he took a step back and surveyed the rest of it. He grinned with satisfaction. He had taken down three armed and experienced Yakuza soldiers and accrued damage slightly on par to that of a Naru Punch/ Motoko Slash combo.

The girl wasn't important. Her only use was to keep the Yakuza from following him, at least in the open. Because of his actions, the Yakuza would no doubt try and jump him from now on, but that's exactly what he wanted. This little game had been… fun. Kietaro had never felt this powerful before. Certainly not with the bitches he lived with.

Out in the streets, he had just had his way with a woman. Did he act perverted? NO! Kietaro was never that perverted, just clumsy. Besides, he wouldn't fuck the bitch even if she begged him. Shit like that belonged in the gutter.

_If only they could have seen…_ he thought with a pang of regret. Not only did he not rape the slut like she deserved to have been, he had just made her his bitch. If the girls had seen that, they would definitely treat him with respect, or at least be wary of their actions. (At this point, when he thinks girls, he thinks of only Naru and Motoko).

Feeling sweaty, he wiped his face with his shirt, only to notice how bloody it had become. _Fuck!_ he exclaimed angrily.

With no other way to vent his anger, he went up to Nanise's body. Miraculously, he was taking quick short gasps.

"Look what you did!" he yelled at him, kicking him hard in the ribs, moving his body forward a foot. "You got my shirt dirty you pieces of shit!" he said again. His face contorted into something that would be described as inhuman because of how much hate it expressed. He continued kicking Nanise until his leg got tired. Then he noticed Azuka's crumpled form and walked up to him. He remembered how he had stolen his wallet.

"I guess I'll be taking this," Kietaro said, stripping Azuka's surprisingly clean jacket and wore it himself. In after thought, he went through all of their pockets and took whatever seemed interesting. "For the free training lesson," he assured the unconscious, if not already dead, trio.

He chuckled for some reason and walked out of the alley, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. By the time half of his train ride home was done, he didn't feel any more pain from inside, and when he inspected his wounds from under his shirt, found that they were already closed. His shirt was still somewhat damp, but mostly brown from the blood that had already dried. After this little self-inspection, he kept his hands in his pockets, where he kept on fingering his… souvenirs.

He felt the packet in his left pocket with anticipation. He had always wanted to try its contents because of the headache he always got from Hinata-Sou and studying for Todai, but never thought it was worth it, nor did he trust buying it off the street. But he got this stuff from the dealers themselves, so it had to be clean. He felt a little lower, feeling a sense of happiness from having such a large roll of bills for himself.

He rubbed the object in his right pocket most delicately. It had a long smooth shaft and a custom built butt. It was perfect for people Azuka's size, which coincidentally was the same as Kietaro's, explaining the perfect fit of his jacket. He did his best to keep his new jacket from showing any part of his shirt, since he already had had enough 'fun' for one day.

Not surprisingly, people kept a safe distance away from him. He couldn't figure out why, exactly. He had rented a hotel room and cleaned himself up after the battle enough so that no one would notice. But, in essence, this is the same old Kietaro.

He was too dense to figure out that the jacket he was wearing had the Yakuza's symbol on its back.

(-O-)

I don't know anything about the Yakuza or about casts. But if there are any blatant inaccuracies, feel free to contact me.

This chapter was inspired the songs "Kill Us All" by Twista and "Time and Time Again" by Chronic Future.

Everyone should thank The Vampire Story Hunter and One Azn Dragon for making me get off my lazy butt and dishing this out. I think it's considerably longer than any other chapter thanks to these two…


	2. The Struggle

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Five:** The Struggle

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

**Disclaimer: **_See Chapter Four_

I'd just like to start off by asking everyone to pray for all those souls that have been hit by the Tsunami. (Anyone notice that the world's gone to hell lately?)

Now that the excuse of school is over, I've finally started to update again (Yay!). Unfortunatly, the story I was working on that delayed this one in the summer is back in the dorms and I can't work on it (Boo for me being so dumb!!!)

Niet. This is not gonna be as evil as the last chapter. It's more of a scaffolding for what is to come.

(-O-)

So many people like me put so much trust in all your lies  
So concerned with what you think to just say what we feel inside  
So many people like me walk on eggshells all day long  
All I know is that all I want is to feel like I'm not stepped on  
There are so many things you say that make me feel you've crossed the line  
What goes up will surely fall and I'm counting down the time  
Cause I've had so many standoffs with you it's about as much as I can stand  
And I'm waiting until the upper hand is mine

-Linkin Park (Hit The Floor)

(O)

There's nothing else like it.

People aren't meant for the ground. Why else do they always stare at the sky in wonder? Creating gods to worship just because the heavens are just out of reach? Why else would so many people die to make the first airplane? And scores more to reach our backyard, the moon?

Because of this feeling.

Flying through the air was an experience like no other; especially if you were flying of your own will and not in an aircraft.

The third most fun thing to do while flying was to see how little everything looked from up there. The second most fun thing to do was to shoot through the clouds, weaving in and out, feeling the water vapors caress your body as it soaked your clothes. And the most fun thing to do?

As Keitaro closed his eyes, he smiled as he thought, _Gunning it!_

The wind whipped all over him as he went into freefall, going faster and faster until he reached equilibrium with air resistance. He opened his eyes, only to see the ground getting closer and closer, until he could see the print on someone's newspaper...

The G forces he felt were way beyond the legal limits of any roller coaster. After climbing to a reasonable height, he leveled off. It felt good to just wind down and cruise in the air. Times like this, he felt like he was superman. Hell, he even went into his flying pose to get into the act. Of course, he stopped when a bird pooped in his eye.

He knew where he was right now. It was Todai. It seemed so magnificent from up here. It was moments like this that kept him from quitting the whole ordeal altogether. It was experiences like this that kept him going under the crushing odds. While he was drifting in thought, he went on autopilot.

When his mind resurfaced, he realized where he was; Hinata-Sou. He didn't know if it was a good thing or bad. As he got closer, he could see the girls. They were outside having a picnic, no doubt having fun. Shinobu had such a lovely smile on her face.

And he knew why instantly. He was nowhere to be seen. _Of course they're happy. I'm nowhere to be found! No more worries about a pervert peeking on them..._

In his gloominess, he found himself floating aimlessly around the grounds encompassed by the Hinata-Sou. He had never really spent time there; he was always busy cleaning up the girls' messes or becoming one. But being there put him in awe of the power and beauty that was just a few steps away. He landed and started walking about, heading nowhere in particular. Within a few moments, he heard the sound of thundering water. He walked towards the sound and found himself at the top of a waterfall. He looked past the edge and saw a deep foaming pool, no doubt full of sharp, pointing rocks. He stepped back and took the scene in.

The sun was setting in a beautiful shade of scarlet red. Keitaro closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the cool air, flavored by the water that ran nearby.

It was so perfect. He had never felt so happy for some time. If it all ended right here, he wouldn't really mind. There was no one for him to hurt; no one to hurt him. All was well here; he felt like one with the universe. Without him thinking it, he was again at the edge of the cliff. He was on his tiptoes, the wind threatening to push him over. He looked around again at the perfect scenery. _I really wouldn't mind stopping right here..._ Keitaro thought, closing his eyes. _It's just so perfect..._

He leaned forward.

(O)

The white light faded.

Motoko stared at her hand in disbelief, as if the katana in her hand wasn't real; as if it were a figment of her imagination.

If only it were so.

She looked back at the other girls, each holding expressions of disbelief. She finally looked at the face of her adversary. Keitaro.

"I told you it was foolish to challenge me," he said with a smirk.

"How… how could I have lost!" she cried, dropping her katana. As the sharpened piece of forged metal clattered on the ground, it snapped in half at the point where the victor had struck. _How could this be? How could _I _lose to a vile, perverted male such as Urishima?_

"You lost Motoko," Keitaro said darkly. "A deal is a deal."

"I'm afraid that I have to agree with him, Motoko-chan..." Naru said disappointedly. Kitsune smirked. Motoko came back a few moments later without wearing any of her clothes...

Except a white bunny suit with a hole where the face would be so everyone could see the look of shame on her face. Keitaro smirked.

"Now, dance!" he ordered. Motoko sighed heavily.

"Little rabbit Fu Fu..." she started, singing the song while she hopped back and forth, wiggling her hips, almost on the verge of tears. Sarah had a camera and was recording the whole ordeal with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Keitaro..." Naru said. "This has gone on for long enough. You've had your fun, tell her to stop..."

"No way! This is too good!" Keitaro said, joined by Kitsune. Naru glared at the latter and tried to reason with the high-and-mighty ronin.

"Keitaro, you're humiliating her-"

He cut her off, angrily saying, "Like you and the rest of them always humiliate me?" Naru recoiled back at the force of his answer, if not only in shock, but in guilt.

"This is too much!" Motoko suddenly burst out. "I cannot stand this shame," she said dangerously, a dagger at hand. "I will commit seppoku for my humiliation!"

Before anyone could hold her back, she stabbed herself in the heart and crumpled to the floor.

Everyone just stood there, frozen by her brazen action. No one made a peep until the pool of blood that collected under the kendo girl reached Shinobu's foot.

"KYAAA!!!"

(O)

He just stood there, glaring at him. And the other one just stood there, smiling back at him.

It was all pitch black; emptiness. Keitaro was standing there, floating in emptiness, glaring at the other person. But his mirror image just smiled back at him with cold calculating eyes; he was holding something back.

"This doesn't make sense, you know," the glaring Keitaro said.

"Why not?"

"First of all, how can we see each other?"

"We have eyes."

"But how can we see each other without some kind of light source? And what are we standing on? There is no ground here, its only just emptiness. It doesn't make sense!"

"Is that what has you worried?"

"No. Motoko-chan wouldn't act like that!"

"If someone like her lost to a _weakling_ like you, what would you expect them to do?"

"I don't know," the glaring Keitaro answered, gritting his teeth. "But I know that that isn't how Motoko is like!"

"Are you certain? You sound very sure of yourself," the smiling one laughed. "As if you _know _these girls or something!" he mocked.

"I _do_!" the glaring Keitaro answered sharply.

The smiling Keitaro's eyes dilated as his smile turned into a scary grin. "Then lets find out!" he said, his voice much deeper. The world went white, and Keitaro's lungs felt as if on fire...

(O)

Naru sighed. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't focus.

Since the final test was only a day away, she had no other choice but to leave the chaos that was now Hinata-Sou. She came to her home in hope of some peace and quiet, but she just couldn't stop thinking about how Keitaro had acted recently and the hurtful words he had told her.

"Stupid pervert," she grumbled and tried going back to her studies.

(O)

Shinobu had been anxious about Keitaro all day yesterday, since he didn't arrive till late in the night. She was sure that he was probably studying at the moment and his mood may have lightened since the other day. She knocked on his door with the premise of picking up laundry.

"Sempai?" she queried, rapping on his door. He didn't answer. Shinobu knocked again, but to no avail. Finally loosing her patience, she opened his door, saying, "Sempai, I'm coming in."

She started coughing. The whole room was full of smoke.

"Sempai!" she said worriedly, covering her face with her shirt. The whole room was completely filled with white smoke that smelled intensely of incense.

"Oh, sorry Shinobu, I didn't hear you enter," Keitaro finally answered.

"Sempai, what happened in here?"

"I was just… meditating…" Keitaro said cryptically. In truth, he had been smoking the night before and used incense to cover up the smell. Unfortunately for him, it required quite a bit of incense to get the job done.

"Oh…" Shinobu said, finding it harder and harder to breath with her makeshift air filter. "Um… I just wanted to know if you had any laundry you needed cleaning?" she asked as usual.

Not wanting to seem strange, Keitaro said, "Yeah, my hamper is right there."

"Alright, Sempai…" Shinobu said and took the said articles. She left his room more confused then when she entered. He seemed very mellow for some reason. Also, she was feeling a bit lightheaded.

Back in his room, Keitaro collapsed on his futon and let the drug take its course. Finally finding the incense's smell unbearable, he opened his window and the smoke left his room in a rush. As the smoke cleared, Keitaro got a good look at his disheveled quarters.

"Oh shit!" he cursed, realizing that he had left his jacket in the hamper.

Shinobu hummed as she loaded her sempai's dirty laundry into the wash. She blushed when she held one of his boxers, thinking impure thoughts…

_AAAUUU! What am I doing??_ She thought in horror after realizing just how long she had been holding the said articles. She continued putting his stuff in when something caught her attention. One of Keitaro's shirts was soiled with a dark brown. It was also full of many holes. She put it aside and went through the rest of the laundry, thinking she'd ask Keitaro exactly what had happened to his clothing later. One of his pants was in similar shape. She stopped when she found a strange jacket she had never seen him having before. She turned it around to see the back. She froze, her eyes wide open.

"Shinobu-chan!" Keitaro said wildly, crashing into the room. When he regained his composure, he got up to approach her, but his heart sank at her expression. She kept looking between Keitaro and the jacket, her eyes wide.

(O)

(Good ol' US of A. Somewhere near the coast…)

"Someone's happy," smirked Luciana as she made a final blow to her opponent.

"Is it that obvious?" Akira frowned.

"If you're happy, you should be smiling," said Luciana, playfully knocking on her friend's head. "So, spill it. Who is he?"

"There isn't anyone," Akira insisted. Unfortunately she blushed.

"I knew it!" Luciana giggled as she wiped her saber.

"I'm just going back to Japan early, that's all…" Akira complained, sheathing her sword.

"Oh… so its _him_," Luciana said accusingly.

"He's just my sensei…" Akira answered unemotionally as she threw a match. The fuel-drenched trailer went up in flames, the smell of charred flesh and evaporated fat saturating the air.

"Just admit that you're in love with him already," Luciana said advisedly, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. They had been over this many times and sometimes it was frustrating seeing her deny what was so obvious.

"But…"

"No buts. If you don't admit your feeling to him this time, I promise that a certain someone is gonna see a certain something involving a certain new years party and whi-"

"SHHH!!!" Akira hissed, covering her friend's mouth. She quickly surveyed the area to make sure that no one had heard. Fortunately, all she could see was the smoldering remains of a former trailer-park-turn-war-zone. After ascertaining that her friend would be quite, she slowly took her hands off.

"We have a deal then?" Luciana said with a smirk saying she knew the answer.

"This is blackmail…" Akira said, hoping her partner was joking.

"Lady, _you_ of all people should know that the Yakuza is _all _about blackmail," Luciana said as she stripped. Akira followed.

"And I thought you were my friend…" Akira said in a betrayed tone. The two were wearing nothing but bikinis.

"I am. I'm your _best_ friend," Luciana smirked as the two got on their sports motorcycle, Akira on back. "We better hurry, its almost time for our pickup."

"Don't worry. Americans are lazy," Akira teased as Luciana burned/peeled out the back wheel.

"Hey!" Luciana said, offended.

As the dust from their dramatic exit settled down, a stoner in his late teens got up from the ground, rubbing sleep away from his eyes.

"Damn… those Asian chicks were really pissed off at Fat Tony," he commented after surveying the carnage. "But they sure had nice little tight-"

He fell back on the ground before he finished, a cloud of smoke suddenly surrounding his head. On the side that the two women had left was a small hole that would have gone unnoticed, had the other side of his head been securely placed where it was supposed to be, instead of splattered all over the ground.

(O)

"Sempai…" Shinobu said disbelieving, staring at the Yakuza emblem with teary eyes. "Where did you get this?"

"Shinobu-chan! I can explain!!" Keitaro pleaded.

"I was looking for something like this for the longest time!" she whined.

"Don't cry Shinobu'chan! It's not mine! I didn't- what?"

"I've been looking for a jacket like this for so long. And the picture on the back is sooo cool!"

"Uh… really?"

"Yeah…" she said, looking at the jacket longingly.

"Then how about this? If you wash it, you can keep it?"

"Really?" she said in disbelief.

"Really," Keitaro smiled, returning to his old goofy self for an instant. "Hey, why don't help you out?"

"S-sure," Shinobu blushed. She moved over while Keitaro helped her do the wash.

"So Sempai… are you nervous about the test tomorrow?"

"Not really," Keitaro said, still smiling. Shinobu stopped.

"Seriously?" she said, turning to look at him. "Are you sure you should be that relaxed?"

"Why not? If I'm nervous, I just won't be able to concentrate, right?" he said confidently. They stood silent for a few minutes.

"You've changed a lot, sempai…" Shinobu said, a small smile creeping on her face.

"I have, haven't I?" Keitaro said, putting his hand on the back of his head.

"If Naru-sempai thought like that, I bet she'd do really good too," she added. Keitaro turned cold again.

"Can we not talk about her for once?" he said in a low voice.

"Sorry!" she squeaked, bowing to him instantly. "I didn't mean to-"

"Its all right Shinobu-chan…" he said with a little more warmth.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, what's with these clothes?" she asked, showing him his tattered clothes from his previous battle.

_Oh shit!_

"Er… Ketchup stains?" he said. _Idiot! Don't just say the first thing that pops in your mind!!!_

"Really?" Shinobu asked skeptically.

"Really…" Keitaro continued lying.

"Well, if you say so, I'll believe you, sempai," she said, smiling and going back to work.

_Phew that was close…_ Keitaro thought. He continued staring at her, thinking of how she was always helping him out and always looking up to him. It made him feel guilty that he had just lied to the girl.

"Something wrong, sempai?" Shinobu asked worriedly after noticing him staring at her for a long time.

"Er… nothing…" he said, going back to work.

(O)

(Later the next day…)

Shinobu's face was beet red. There was only one thought in her mind: _I'm wearing sempai's jacket!_

The two ronins had set out separately that day to take the test; Keitaro from the Hinata Inn and Naru from her house. Though she never told him, Shinobu wanted to be the first one to see Keitaro when he finished his test. She had been waiting outside his testing room for the past fifteen minutes, holding one of her specially made hand lunches. _Its like we're boyfriend-girlfriend…_ Shinobu thought. Her face became a few shades redder. _Aaauu… what am I thinking! Sempai didn't even ask me to come here today! But he did give me this cool jacket and he's been nicest to me among the other girls…_

"Shinobu-chan?"

"Ahh! Naru-sempai!" Shinobu said in shock. _What's she doing here!?_ she thought, then added, _She'll ruin everything!!_ Shinobu was stunned at the afterthought.

"So that is you!" Naru said happily and walked up to the younger woman. "What're you doing here?"

"I wanted to see sempai when he was done with his test, that's all," she said while hiding a blush. "But what about you? Isn't your test still going?"

"Nah, we just started a bit earlier, so we got out earlier, that's all. I just came here to teach that baka a lesson about being mean to us," she said as if she'd caught him peeping on the girls again.

At that moment, the door opened and a flood of students poured out. Within a few minutes, Keitaro was spotted. To the girls' shock, he didn't have a look of dread etched over his face. Instead, it was a calm look, like he had everything under control.

"Keitaro?"

"Sempai?" the girls said at the same time.

Keitaro stopped and looked at both of them. "Narusegewa?" he said uncertainly, as if he didn't even believe that she was here. Surprisingly, his voice didn't carry the malice that they had gotten used to.

"Keitaro…" she said, stepping forward.

_Of course sempai will chose Naru-sempai over me…_ Shinobu mentally sighed.

Keitaro's face became cold again. Instead of going to meet Naru, he turned and held Shinobu's hand. "Lets go, Shinobu-chan," Keitaro said, his voice a bit angered.

"But sempai…" she protested, but he started pulling her by the hand. Shinobu gave in and followed, though she turned to look at Naru and gave her an apologetic face. Naru stood there, depressed that Keitaro was still mad at her. They had just finished the Test. After all times they had been through, they should have at least celebrated together.

"Am I that hated?" Naru quietly said to herself.

(O)

Shinobu watched Keitaro as he lay back on the picnic sheet, staring at the lazy clouds above. _It's like we're a couple…_ she thought again, her cheeks stained red.

"So, sempai, how do you think you did on the test? You didn't seem worried at all when you left the test room." Keitaro turned his head so that he was facing her. Surprisingly he didn't make a big deal about how he could see Shinobu's panties from his viewpoint. He sat up and stretched his arm to give her a V with a big goofy smile on his face.

"You seem really confident, sempai."

"The answers spoke to me…" he said, unusually mellow.

(-O-)

Big contrast to last chapter, ne? Remember Keitaro was basically high this whole chapter! (No, I haven't forgotten about Kitsune) So, push that little go button and flame me for not updating in so long. You know you wanna!


	3. Silent Assassin, Return of the House of ...

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Six:** Silent Assassin, Return of the House of Flying Daggers!

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

**Disclaimer: **_See Chapter Four_

Again, I will repeat that this fic is rated R…

(-O-)

And what I wanna see, is you go to sleep, in the dirt  
Permanently, you just being hurt, this ain't gonna work  
For me, it just wouldn't be, sufficient enough  
Cause we, are just gonna be, enemies  
As long as we breathe, I don't ever see, either of us  
Coming to terms, where we can agree  
There ain't gonna be, no reason, speakin' with me  
You speak on my seed, then me, no speak Ingles  
So we gonna beed, and keep on beefin', unless  
You're gonna agree, to meet with me in the flesh  
And settle this face to face, and you're gonna see  
A demon unleashed in me, that you've never seen

-Eminem, Ft. DMX and Obie (Go To Sleep)

(O)

"The current stop is Hinata Springs. All customers please stay clear of the doors," the train's PA system droned.

It was the early part of sunset and Shinobu and her beloved sempai got a spectacular view of the sun setting in an ocean of soft orange and red. Shinobu was holding onto his arm so that they wouldn't get separated in the hustle-bustle of the station. Their proximity caused her to blush. _Today was almost like a real date,_ she thought playing back all the things the two had done together. True, it was meant to get rid of all of Keitaro's post-test stresses, but Shinobu had fun anyways. _So romantic…_ she thought when they got out of the station and saw the beautiful sunset.

She did feel guilty, however, that on the first day that she got to wear her sempai's cool looking jacket, she had 'accidentally' forgotten it on a ride with the said person's 'help.' She had been brooding over it the whole day, blaming herself for being so careless.

"Shinobu-chan. You can let go now…" Keitaro said.

"Sorry sempai!" she apologized, bowing.

"It's alright Shinobu," he said nonchalantly. "But you're worrying me. You've been spacing out all day. Are your really okay?"

"I am, really!" she insisted again for the seventh time that day.

"Okay…" Keitaro answered. His mood had improved dramatically from the last few days and Shinobu was hoping that her sempai was on the road to becoming himself again. _Even if that means I have to lose him to Naru-sempai…_

"Well Shinobu, thanks for spending the whole day with me, its been really refreshing," Keitaro said, holding the entrance for the Inn open for the younger girl.

_When did we get here?!_ Shinobu thought in panic. _And isn't this where the guy kisses the girl at the porch? But me and sempai do live in the same house…_

Not wanting to seem any weirder, she blurted out, "Thanksforthedate!" and ran to her room, her face beet red. Fortunately for her, she had said it too fast for him to follow.

"…"

He quietly made his way to his room, determined to rest his tired body till dinner. As he rolled out his futon, he had a sudden urge to go into the secret entrance for the secret tunnel network under the Inn that Su and Sarah loved to explore. He opened a drawer and somehow managed to climb in. He closed the drawer behind him and crawled through the tunnel on all fours. And it seemed that fate was on his side today, for Motoko suddenly burst into his room, demanding that he see her regarding something about Kitsune.

_I just got home and they're already on my back…_ he fumed. He crawled around for a while and found himself exit the tunnel into a hallway. _This looks really familiar…_ he thought and then he spotted it: a piece of paper on a door. He walked up to it and read the sign.

"Come to think of it, I haven't been here in a while. He opened the door and walked in. In there, rested a doll the size and shape of a girl Shinobu's age that sat lifeless on its chair. He started to hear clicking and turned to face Moe.

"What happened, Kei-kun?" she said.

"What do you mean what happened, Moe-chan?" Keitaro asked, not in the least fettered that the until-now dormant doll was again talking to him.  
"Back when you fixed me, Hinata-Sou was so much happier," she said.

"Well, back then, I let the girls push me around," he answered angrily.

"…That's not like you, Kei-kun. The Kei-kun I remembered was kind and always tried to make people happy…"

"Well, the old Keitaro is dead. Those girls killed him! This… this is the other me."

"Really?" she asked, unbelieving.

"What do you mean by really?"

"Is it really you? Are you sure?"

"Of course this is me? Who else could it be?"

"Keita-"

Suddenly Keitaro felt as if he were covered by some dark shadow. Minutes later, he woke up. He looked around and saw Moe-chan sitting in her seat, as lifeless as when he entered.

"Wow… I must be going crazy… I swear I just spoke to Moe-chan again." With that, Keitaro got up and fumbled his way out of the room.

_Stupid bitch… she almost ruined everything…_ something thought.

**(O)**

When Keitaro got out of the tunnel system, it was already dark. He found that he was somewhere in the grounds that surrounded the Inn, faraway from everyone. He sighed, knowing that the trek back would take a while and that once he got back, the cold steel blade of the resident Kendoist would most likely greet him for reasons he didn't even care about at this point. His intimidation tactics had kept the girls away from him the last few days, but after seeing how Motoko had all but hacked her way into his room when he left, he knew that the last few days of peace and quiet would soon be a fond memory.

"Damn bitch…" he thought aloud.

"Watch your mouth, child," someone said from the darkness. "Are you not familiar with the saying, 'Hell knoweth no fury like a woman scorned'?" it said with a hint of laughter. No doubt, the shadowy assailant was a woman herself.

"Whatever…" Keitaro said dismissively and continued walking.

"Where are you going? I'm not done with you yet!"

"I'm going wherever I want to. I don't take orders from the inferior gender anymore," he said angrily and stomped off.

"Why you insolent little brat!" she screamed. Suddenly Keitaro could hear a faint hiss in the air get closer and closer. At the last second, he ducked, but grabbed into the air as if on reflex. He was surprised to find a dagger in his hand.

"This is interesting. I have never met an opponent that could dodge my daggers, even in the light!" the voice said, suddenly happy.

"Are you done with me yet, _woman_?"

"Ho ho, the fun has just begun!" she said merrily. Keitaro heard the hiss again, but this time there were four of them, all of them coming from different directions. Keitaro closed his eyes and shut off every sense, save his hearing and triangulated their positions and trajectories. In his mind, he constructed a rough picture of where he was and where the daggers were heading for. Without even thinking, he imagined how the daggers would intercept him and how he would manage to dodge all of them without even moving his feet. When the first dagger had reached its optimal position, he moved his upper torso this way and that, punching with his arms to cancel to force of moving this torso. And it seemed that he had done it successfully, since the daggers hissed past, merely cutting up his clothing a bit. When Keitaro was standing rightly again, he expected the woman to curse at him for having dodged her daggers again, but she remained silent.

Suddenly, four daggers were headed for him again. Since they were so close, he couldn't move in time and only managed to dodge one. His arm, cheek and right buttock suddenly had fresh gashes on them. They didn't bleed too much since they all seemed to be like paper cuts: meant to destroy the nerves and cause the enemy massive pain.

"The hell!" Keitaro cursed, surprised that the same four daggers had somehow made their way back for a second attack. "How the hell did she do that?"

"Is it that hard to believe that someone could manipulate daggers in such a way?" the voice asked.

"What kind of fighting style is that?" Keitaro asked, half from curiosity and half from trying to buy some time. Fortunately, she bought it.

"It is a lost style from one of China's less famous houses; the House of Flying Daggers," she said. "Though I never trained in that style, it seems that I have lived as one of their warriors in a past life and her desire to come back to this world allowed me to retain her experiences."

"Who sent you anyway? I don't remember wronging anyone of your caliber," Keitaro said, trying to butter her up. As they spoke, his wounds were healing. He could imagine in his head how his cells were undergoing mitosis at an accelerated rate. And the fact that he still retained feeling in the wounded areas told him that the severed nerves were being rejuvenated as well. _Just a little more…_

"My name is Xiao-Mei," the voice said. She walked out of the dark and stood some distance away from Keitaro on the trial. From the little he could see of her from the moonlight, he could tell that she was not that much taller then him, though she had a gorgeous face (unlike our four eyed Keitaro).

"And as for who sent me, you should have been ready for the Yakuza to seek retribution at any time," she said darkly, but then in an annoyed tone, "Though I am usually sent out on missions where someone _important_ needs to be eliminated, such as our former president, or Jet Li. But, it seems that you picked the wrong father's daughter to assault."

"You're telling me that that bitch's dad has rank in the Yakuza?" he asked in disbelief. He intended for them to seek vengeance, not start a war. The fact that he assaulted the daughter of someone important among them made it all too possible.

"He presides in the Council, but you didn't hear that from me… Actually, it won't really matter since you wont live to tell about it!" she said, suddenly extending her arms. Keitaro quickly concentrated on his hearing and heard not four, but three daggers flying. _Why would she decrease their number?_ he thought while planning on how to dodge the flying metal instruments of fatal agony. When the daggers had reached the optimum positions, Keitaro started moving around like when he dodged the first set of daggers. But to his horror, the three daggers suddenly turned to six as they had been paired up tightly the whole time.

_Women… so fickle…_ Keitaro suddenly judged. He managed to dodge two of the daggers since they followed their original trajectories, but their mates made contact. Keitaro's left arm was left useless as the biceps, triceps and shoulder muscles were all cut horizontally, gushing blood like the Niagara Falls spills water. The last dagger was situated in his left eye. He shuddered as he felt his eye leak the crucial jelly that let him see with it and fought to ignore the pain. _Damn, I never saw that coming!_ With strength that he had never known he had, he glared at the woman, daring her to attack once more.

"Ho ho, did you like my little trick? I have plenty more I can show you… if you can survive!" she said and let fly the six more daggers.

_Shit!_ Keitaro thought. _There's no way for me to be sure it's six daggers and not twelve!_ Knowing he had no chance to fight her in this kind of situation, Keitaro did what any other honorable warrior would do when faced with unstoppable death: run like hell!!!

_This place is way too open!_ Keitaro thought. _I need to find a place where her daggers can't move around so freely. Somewhere that I can do some close quarter fighting with her!_

"Are you running away, you coward?! Do you feel no shame?" she boomed.

"No," Keitaro answered, looking back. "I just suddenly feel that I'm not interested in old, dead women!"

"What?? How dare you call me dead? It is _you_ who shall die!" she said, giving chase. She was remarkably agile and jumped from tree to tree with inhuman grace and speed.

"You're the one who said something about being dead before!" Keitaro shouted, trying to keep her from noticing his plan. Within seconds they would enter an area thick with foliage, or what looked like it with what little Keitaro could see.

"I was saying that I've been reincarnated you fool!"

"So you've died before!"

"But that wasn't me!" she yelled back, frustrated. Keitaro smirked. _You actually fell for it!_ he thought when they had reached his desired destination. He stopped running and faced her, tracking her with his one good eye. Even now, he didn't move to pull the dagger out the other yet. She didn't notice him stop in time, so he punched her in the face while she tried to capitalize on her momentum by going from jumping from tree to tree to a Tiger Kick. Unfortunately, Keitaro had somehow anticipated her and got her smack dab on the nose with a one inch punch. She went flying back and crashed into a tree.

"My nose!" was she first thing she said, holding her face while dark fluid poured out of it. "You flattened my nose!"

"It wont make much difference… your face was already flat!" he said, trying to show a strong front in the hopes that she'd give up. He could already feel the numbness caused by the massive loss of blood setting in.

"Why you!" she said, infuriated at the insult. She outstretched her arms again, letting fly over ten daggers, some of which were burning.

"I didn't know you were _that_ stupid!" Keitaro mocked her. "I made you follow me here so that the foliage would make it impossible for you to use your daggers!"

"You have much to learn, child!" the much older woman said cockily. As if on cue, Keitaro suddenly heard their familiar hiss.

"What?!" Keitaro said in surprise. The daggers had actually hacked their way through vines, vegetation and even wood to embrace their targets. They also burned all of the dead plant matter that happened to be in the area, quickly engulfing the area with flames. And to make matters worse, the daggers suddenly multiplied by nine. Thinking of no other way out of his predicament, Keitaro jumped as high as he could. Amazingly, the daggers actually followed his movement and adjusted their trajectories. Fast as lightning, though, Keitaro kicked them all to the side, harmlessly, since they came one by one. He landed with a smirk on his face, but felt a massive pain on his mouth just as he was about to insult her skills to aggravate the older woman further.

"You shouldn't have underestimated me by just thinking that I just fight with daggers only, child," she hissed. She slowly advanced to him, one hand still covering her delicate nose, while the other reached to her side. Keitaro stumbled backwards and crashed into a tree. He put his good hand to his mouth to feel what damage he had gotten. The reports from his tongue were bad; all he could register was the sharp metallic taste of blood.

Shling! Keitaro tensed when he heard the distinct sound of metal sliding against metal as the Yukuza's woman unsheathed her until-now unknown sword.

"From the look on your eye, boy, it seems that you didn't expect me to fight with a sword either, did you?"

Keitaro just nodded no, frustrated that she could somehow see in the dark. He heard a swooping motion just as she said, "DIE!"

(O)

She could swear Urishima, that vile, _evil_, perverted male had just entered his room. She had sworn to deal him swift justice after what he did to Kitsune. But when she stormed in, he was nowhere to be found. What frustrated her the most was that his residual ki hinted that he had in fact just left. She searched the entire house and turned it upside down looking for _it_ until the sky became dark. By that time, dinner was already set and Shinobu was calling for her to join the rest.

To her utter frustration, Keitaro wasn't even in his seat. _Spirits curse that damn Urishima!!!_ she thought furiously and took her seat. They waited a little longer for Keitaro, but he was nowhere to be seen. Finally, after Su's impatient insistence, they all started eating.

Motoko ate at a proper pace, trying to cool down from the wrath she felt for the resident pervert, or as she liked to think of _it_, the 'spawn from hell.' But she felt something was amiss. Besides the lack of Keitaro's ki, she could swear that she felt some bad vibes from Naru directed at Shinobu for some reason. Everyone knew that Keitaro had dumped her in favor of spending a day with Shinobu after the entrance exam, but she couldn't possibly be jealous of not receiving the attention of the _beast_, could she?

When she finished eating, she went to Su's room. She had left first, since she devoured anything that got near her with the efficiency of a school of great whites. "Su, can you find Urishima for me? I have searched everywhere, but he is nowhere to be found!"

"Why?"

"I need to… find him…" she answered cryptically, not wanting her soil her innocence while at the same time trying not to give her ideas.

"Are you guys playing hide-and-seek? Or are you two gonna get it on behind Naru's back?" she asked again with a straight face. She also decided that Motoko had an interesting neck and jumped on her to hang around it.

Motoko was reminiscent of Shinobu when she was around the man in question and tried not to hurt the little one for such a blatant insinuation.

"We are playing this game of 'hide-and-seek,' if you must," she said, clearly showing that her patience was running out. But it wasn't like she was lying; Urishima was hiding from her wrath and she was seeking to deal it.

"If you wanted to cheat that badly, all ya had to do was ask!" Su said and jumped off. Motoko fought the sudden urge to violently strangle the child. Moments later, the monkey came back from her 'storage area' a. k. a., a big pile of dangerous inventions with an utter look of confusion.

"What's wrong?" Motoko asked.

"I can't find him…" she said, scratching her head. She banged the radar a couple of times, to 'fix' it, but it gave the same result.

"What do you mean you can't find him?" Motoko asked, frustrated.

"Either my radar don't work, or Keitaro has been wiped off the face of this earth!" Su said, jumping around for no apparent reason.

_So Urishima is no more, eh? No matter, someone else just did us all a favor._ Motoko walked out of Su's jungle, a smug smile on her face.

(-O-)

Uh-oh… I done piss people off…

And remember, click the 'Go' button. (Flames are still understandable)

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?


	4. Beauty Runs Only Skin Deep

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Seven:** Beauty Runs Only Skin Deep

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

**Disclaimer: **_See Chapter Four_

Rated R for content and language…

You can learn more about the Bugatti Veyron from their site or from howstuffworks com

Sorry for the not-as-long chapter, but it was getting too big, so I broke it into two… And I seem to just be free writing, so it's not as intense as the previous one…

I'm actually three chapters up :) , but I realized ppl were getting _very_ ooc (Keitaro dun count though), so I have to give those unreleased chapters crazy overhauls to make up for not fixing them sooner… so, sorryabout the inevitable delay…

One last thing; I have no idea why I'm doing the song thing before every chapter now. So don't ask. Period. Now stop wasting your time reading this and move on already! (I know you people worship my stories like religious texts, but damn… :P )

(-O-)

Crawling in my skin  
Consuming all I feel  
Fear is how I fall  
Confusing what is real

There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface  
Consuming/confusing  
This lack of self-control I fear is never ending  
Controlling/I can't seem

To find myself again  
My walls are closing in  
(without a sense of confidence and I'm convinced that there's just too much pressure to take)  
I've felt this way before  
So insecure

-Linkin Park (Crawling)

(O)

Though the attack had already been dealt for quite some time now, Xiao-Mei stood as still as a statue the whole time. She looked down at her sword and her opponent.

Keitaro slowly got up, as if he had just woken up from a long nap. He walked up to her and soaked in the sight, suddenly able to see in the dark like a night owl. Xiao-Mei was clutching tightly onto her sword, which was impaled through her own abdomen.

"H-how did this happen? How could I have lost!" she finally said in utter disbelief. _How did he make me stab myself? _Keitaro slowly went up to her and put his hands over hers, noting how smooth her skin was. He then thrust forward, causing the sword to go all the way through. Xiao-Mei bent forward from the thrust and started coughing out blood. The drops of dark red fluid fell with a pitter-patter, enlarging the already growing pool of blood that came from her sword wound.

Her legs became jelly and she was about to fall, but Keitaro caught her and held her up. He put his hands where the sword had entered and exited from and closed his eyes. Xiao-Mei felt a sudden calmness setting over her as her pain ebbed away. When she was conscious again, she found that Keitaro was standing in front of her, smiling. The look on his face was ghastly, though, for there was still a dagger in his left eye, while the other one was unnaturally dilated.

"Tell this to your masters," he said in a voice dripping with hatred. "If they ever attack me anywhere near Hinata-sou, the Yakuza will be no more…"

"Why should I do this?!" she spat back defiantly. Before she finished blinking, Keitaro was in front of her again, hand holding the sword that was sheathed within her innards.

"Because, at any point of my choosing," he said, twisting the sword a bit and causing her indescribable pain. "I can undo what I have done to let you pass on my little message… Is that clear, _woman_?"

"Y-yes," she stuttered, wanting the pain to go away. She hadn't realized that he somehow managed to heal her injury with the sword still in her body. He let go and stood next to her for a few moments, drinking in her beautiful face. He lifted his good hand up and caressed her face. For some reason, the soft white light of the moon made him seem pale and even more ghastly, enhanced by the fact that there was still a dagger in his left eye.

"You know, you have such a lovely face," he said, a bit of mischief edging on his voice. "_I want it!_" he said, an evil glint in his eye. He held her up in the air by he throat with his good hand, while the other, somehow miraculously healed, grabbed the dagger from his eye and held it against her skin.

He started cutting her face off.

A bloody scream echoed through the night, making grown men to pee their pants and little children run screaming to their mothers.

(O)

Shinobu was starting to get worried. No one had seen Keitaro since they had come back from their… date. _ITS NOT A DATE!_ she scolded herself. She asked around the house to see if anyone had seen him, but all the answers she received were nugatory, except for Motoko's, who replied cryptically, "Probably burning in the pits of hell…" with a straight face.

Throughout her questioning she found out that Naru, Sarah and Mitsumi were to leave the next day for their respective families, since it was summer already and they really missed them. (Naru learned the importance of family when she studied there the day before the test…) Motoko said she'd also leave for a kendo club retreat, since she felt that "the girls were no longer in any more imminent danger." When Kitsune got wind of Motoko's leaving, she grabbed a backpack she had in her closet and said "good luck with Su," as she hightailed it out of Hinata-sou. She barely heard her say that she was "gonna write poems and junk to get to know herself and find her motives for being so sexy…"

This left her where she started and all she did was worry. _I hope he's alright… Aaauuu… last time he was gone so long, he came back with a cast and then he was mad at everyone and Aaauuu…_

"Gack!" someone blurted. Shinobu looked under her and saw Su sprawled over the ground, nose bleeding and eyes swirling.

"Kaolla! What are you doing down there?!" Shinobu squeaked, tightening her skirt around her legs.

"Banana… panties…" she drooled.

(O)

(Back to Keitaro)

He held the cold, petite patch of skin in his hands, its owner long since gone. It had thickened a bit and, for some reason, hardened until it was of the quality of tire rubber. _This would look good on Shinobu,_ the three-time ronin thought, imagining her using it as a mask. _But then, it would probably look good on anyone…_

As he made his trek back to the Hinata-sou, he reached into his pocket for another fag. He lit it up, doing his best to savor it since he had finally exhausted his stores, and took a long deep drag. The drug took immediate effect and his step became a bit more relaxed.

_God these are good…_ he thought. He continued walking on, as if nothing had just happened. As if the hide he had accidentally dropped had never been in his possession.

Thud! Silence. Crickets chirped. Thud, thud-thud! More silence.

"ARGH!" screamed someone in the darkness. Keitaro was suddenly surrounded by smoke and he had the slightest sensation that maybe he was being attacked. When the smoke cleared, he could see something hanging over his face. He took the unknown article off and saw that it was a large boot. _When did a large boot decide to take a ride on my head?_ He wondered. _Oh well, it seems like good company…_ he put the boot back on his head and walked along as if nothing had just happened.

"YOU FREAKING MORON!!!" that same someone screamed. He looked back and saw a silhouette of someone behind him. No longer possessing the vision of a night owl, all Keitaro could make out was that the person was male and he was holding onto something. "ARE YOU FUCKING STONED OR SOMETHING?"

"Stoned?" Keitaro asked, confused. He felt something in his mouth and took it out with his hand. It was a spent fag. "I guess I am!" he laughed, hand on the back of his head. For some reason, his left eye itched, so he balled a fist to soothe the sensation. Subsequently, he felt a yawn coming and used the same hand to cover his mouth. "Wow, I'm tired… what time is it?"

"Oh my God, this fucking jerk off!" the person said again and raised the something. Thudathudathudathudathud! Keitaro's face was now covered with BB pellets.

"AH!" Keitaro shouted and clutched his face, the major effects of the drug dispelled. He then picked his nose and flicked a slimy pellet back at the offender. "Watch where you're pointing that! You could take an eye out!"

"_Finally_!" he said, ranting, stomping his way to the ronin. "I've been gunning you for the longest time and you didn't even notice till now!" Then something clicked in his head. "Hey, I know that scream! You're that weirdo Asian that gets sent flying every weekday morning, aren't you? How come you haven't been flying recently? It's so much more convenient to wake up to your blood curling screams than my alarm clock. I've been late to classes recently thanks to you!"

"Well, I got tired of it all…" he said, nonchalantly. "Oh yeah, how rude of me, my name's Keitaro Urishima. Nice to meet you!" he said, extending his hand for a shake.

The other person sweat dropped. _I just insulted him after filling his face with freaking BB pellets! Is this guy for real?_ He looked to see Keitaro's face and saw him flashing a smile. His drop grew as he hunched forward. _He's just really stoned…_ "Yurislovak Ivanovich Kerensky…" he said, meeting Keitaro's energetic hand with a tired one. _I should just take him home to keep him from hurting himself,_ he thought after seeing him burp and laugh._ I mean, he did wake me up on the dot all these months…_

When Keitaro woke up, he found himself in an unfamiliar room. His hand unconsciously went to his left eye, but there was nothing unusual about it. The room was strangely decorated. The table next to the chair he was sitting in was covered with those hollow Russian dolls that go into each other. The whole room seemed to follow their theme. The chair he was sitting on was really a gigantic version of one of them and the bed across from him sported sheets and pillowcases with pictures of various dolls. The walls were covered with wallpaper of similar designs. The computer table on the other side of the bed sported a doll shaped lamp and the computer's screen saver showed the dolls coming out of each other and then going back in. Before Keitaro could ask the obvious question, a voice asked, "So, how do you like my room?"

"Its weird…" Keitaro said offhand, even though he couldn't see the speaker. "But it is interesting," he added in after thought.

"Ha! That's a first. No one I've ever kidnapped ever said _that_!"

"That's nice…" Keitaro said looking over the strange wares again. "So, where are you?" Keitaro asked when he smelled something acrid in the air.

"Here," Yurislovak answered.

"Where's here?" Keitaro asked, not seeing him.

"Here dammit!" Yurislovak said again and stood up. He had been kneeling on the ground on the other side of the bed, where Keitaro couldn't see.

"Oh!" Keitaro said and walked up to him. He seemed to be working on something, but then he stood up, beaming.

"Finally! Now I can intercept people's phone calls!" he said, holding a circuit with a tin can hanging off of it. Strewn over the floor was a soldering kit and circuit components. "Hey, you must be bored, lets go play some video games!" he said, throwing the contraption to his bed and dragging the just recently conscious ronin with him.

_His entertainment system is so awesome!_ Keitaro thought when they arrived. His choice of vocabulary was very conservative for what he saw. The entertainment system was situated in a room with a large white wall that was lit by a projector that most people didn't even know about. Hooked up to the projector was a sound system that encompassed the whole room (complete with sub-woofers), a gigantic tower that was lit up with internal fans and neon tubes, most modern consoles, a wicked DVD player and an antenna.

"You don't get cable?" Keitaro asked, dumbfounded how he could have all that but not cable.

"I don't want it. All that stuff just makes you dumb and keeps you from doing more important things like sniping people with BB guns."

"Ah," Keitaro simply answered. He took a seat in the couch that his new acquaintance pointed to. "So, what are we gonna do now?"

"I'm gonna kick your ass in Need for Speed Underground!" he answered, jumping into the couch next to him. He threw a controller at him just as the lights faded away. The bare wall was suddenly illuminated and the pre-game stuff happened. At the settings menu, he chose a customized car of his own, while Keitaro was forced to take a stock car. Before he knew what was going on, the race was already counting down to the start.

"Hey, I don't even know how to use controls!" Keitaro said in dismay.

"Don't worry, I'll still have fun," Yurislovak said, completely engrossed with the game now. He and the computer opponents burned out at the last seconds while Keitaro desperately tried to figure out how to use the controls. The race started and the three more experienced players darted forward. Keitaro, however, ended up going backwards.

_Dope!_ The next few hours kept on going on like that until Keitaro finally understood the controls and got used to the car. However, he knew he was at a really big disadvantage since the other three player's cars seemed to go so much faster than his. He asked his new friend about that and he admitted that the stock cars weren't stoked up like the customs were. He restarted the settings and gave Keitaro a car with fair tuning.

The race started again and Keitaro was finally getting the hang of things. He had been watching Yurislovak's hands when he was doing stunts and he managed to copy them. In no time, Keitaro was peeling out, drifting and turning on his front two wheels.

"Wow, Keitaro, you've improved so much over so little time!" he said in surprise. "You're a natural at this!" Before Keitaro could reply though, the race started on a new map, one that Keitaro had never played against him before. "Now lets see you win against me now!" Yurislovak had been a sore loser from the last round, since Keitaro actually came in first, and figured that he would not lose if they played on a map that only he had ever raced. He was surprised, however, that Keitaro managed to keep up with him the whole time. He was happy that he won, but he didn't have the incredible lead he expected. The two played video games till sunrise, like little kids during the summer and got to know each other a bit more.

A little after sunrise, Keitaro and Yurislovak were spent and were almost asleep. Before they went unconscious, Keitaro blurted out a question that had been on the back of his mind the whole night. "Your parents must be really rich for you to be able to afford all of this!"

Yurislovak took a while before answering. "My dad's just a cop. All of this came from my mom before the Yakuza stole her from me," he said, delving deeper into his past then he'd ever done with a stranger, or anyone else in fact. He went to sleep, reliving those troubled times. Fortunately for him, though Keitaro was already out like a light before he had finished.

Later that evening, after the two had groggily gotten up and played more videogames, Yurislovak said he wanted to show something to Keitaro before he had to go home.

"So, what's this super-cool thing?" he asked, wondering what the mystery was about.

"You'll see," Yurislovak said knowingly. They had to go outside to see this thing and it was the first time Keitaro got to see Yurislovak's house… consciously. It alone blew him away. Though the property size was roughly half of the Hinata-sou, the building itself was almost double the mansion. Not to mention that it was fairly new and modernized.

"And here it is," Yurislovak said, opening one of the three independent doors of his three car garage. After seeing how impressive his house was, Keitaro waited in agonizing anticipation for Yurislovak's 'super-cool thing.' And what Keitaro saw woke up his until-now dormant 'little friend.' He stared at it while Yurislovak beamed at his prized possession.

Inside his garage was the just recently introduced Bugatti Veyron, the only civilian super car (that I know of) with 1001 hp…

(O)

Needless to say, Keitaro didn't go home that day. After seeing the metallic beauty, there was no way he could resist a 'quick ride' through the countryside. They ended up going from one end of Japan to the other and back. Naturally, Keitaro wasn't allowed to drive, but he didn't mind; just being in the car was mesmerizing. Not only was it a crazy fast car that not even the cops could catch up to (they had a few run ins with the law for speeding, though they were too quick to get ticketed), it was also a luxury car that had a kick-ass sound system and satellite TV. Keitaro watched them being chased on the news while the cops were on their tail… They had stayed up all night for this little road trip and they had finally come back to their hometown. They finally pulled over in front of Hinanta-sou and Keitaro got off.

"You sure you don't wanna stay over?" Keitaro asked one last time.

"And leave my baby to the elements?" Yuri said with zealous overprotection.

"No way in Hell!" they both said simultaneously and laughed. "I'll come over tomorrow then?" Keitaro asked. Yurislovak was insistent on a rematch, writing off Keitaro's winning streak at the end of the night as beginner's luck.

"Hellz yeah!" he said. Keitaro closed the door carefully and waved goodbye. Revving his engine loudly, Yurislovak pulled away, tires screeching off of the asphalt. Keitaro started the long trek up to the Inn. On the way, Haruka called to him as he passed by the teashop.

"Keitaro, come over here. Sit, we need to talk," she said, referring to the external tea-drinking location she was sitting on just outside her shop. It was basically a small table with an umbrella on top surrounded by a few chairs.

_Oh boy…_ Keitaro thought. He had seen this talk coming, but it didn't mean he looked forward to it.

"I know, I know aunt Haruka (smack)… Haruka-san. I should stop being so mean to the girls and go back to my normal self…" he said, sitting next to her.

"Actually, I just wanted to know where you've been the last two days. The girls have been worried sick about you," she said, really just referring to Shinobu, since Su counts as a monkey.

"Really?" Keitaro said, his old energy back, but then he regressed. "Whatever, they don't really care what happens to me. I've learned that all they want from me is to use me, either to abuse my responsibilities as a manager, or to use me as a rag doll," he said, still referring to Naru and Motoko.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, I really do. But I'm really interested about what you've been up to lately," she said, taking a sip of her tea. Keitaro put his hand to the back of his head.

"I was just over at my friend's house, playing videogames," he chuckled. "Nothing serious.

"So I'm guessing that that was your friend that just dropped you off?" Keitaro nodded. "He seems to have a unique car there. Are you sure you were only playing videogames?" she said, motioning with her head for him to look at the table.

He looked down and saw a newspaper. Smack dab on the front page was a picture of Yurislovak and him being chased by a mob of police cars. His mouth gaped wide open.

"Awawaaa…" he mouth spoke, making unintelligible noises. _Oh shit…_

"You're lucky that only a small newspaper like this decided to cover the story," she said. "You and your friend might wanna lay low for a while." With that, she stood up and went back into the shop. Before she went in, though she said, "It's alright to have fun once in a while, but be careful about what games you play."

Keitaro sat out there, not exactly sure what to make of her advice.

As Haruka watched Keitaro continue up, she realized that she should have been less cryptic with her warning. _But seriously, those new Pokemon games are really, really stupid…_

(O)

Keitaro slipped in quietly, hoping that none of the girls would notice him and leave him be. As he walked past the dining room, he heard a cute girls voice saying, "Stop staring at that Su!" Suddenly curious, he decided to see what was going on. He walked into the kitchen just as Shinobu said, "Fine! If you wont stop looking at it, I'll just give it to you!"

When he walked in, he saw Shinobu taking off her panties while a drooling Su stood next to her in anticipation, her head going down with the said article.

"AH! SEMPAI! DON'T LOOK!" Shinobu said.

"Heya Keitaro! Let's play!" Su said, jumping and magically landing into Keitaro's arms bridal style.

_Awkward!_ Keitaro thought, turning around quickly and walking away.

"Ah! Sempai! It wasn't what you think it was!" Shinobu said, running to him to explain the situation. Her face was flustered even though she was decent again.

"Whatareweplaying? Whatareweplaying?…" Su chanted all the while.

"Give me a second," Keitaro said, wanting to deal with Su first. He set her down on her feet and whispered something in her ear. Su, suddenly dressed in a GI outfit, saluted him and said, "Yes Sir! Commander Pervert, Sir!" and marched away with purpose in her step.

"What did you tell her to do?" Shinobu asked.

"I asked for a favor," he said simply. "I hope it keeps her busy for some time, but knowing her, she'll build something weird and get the job done quickly, but somehow end up blowing me up!" he said, laughing; Shinobu didn't notice the bitterness in the laugh. The two shared the laugh and then stood there silent. Shinobu suddenly turned red when she remembered why she as there in the first place. She explained to Keitaro how Su had a sudden fixation over her banana panties and kept on lifting her skirt to drool at it. Keitaro took this in stride and replied that everyone was bound to end up in weird situations like that. Shinobu was surprised that he didn't dribble blood from his nose at the mention of looking at panties, especially between two girls.

"Well then, I'll go back to the dishes," she said.

"If you don't mind, I'll help you," Keitaro said and started walking to the kitchen without waiting for an answer.

"Really, its alright…" Shinobu said meekly, though she really did want him to help. They went to the kitchen and stood side by side. Unconsciously, Shinobu shifted closer and closer to him. Their hands touched a few times, causing Shinobu to blush, while Keitaro just smiled at her.

_Sempai seems so normal today…_ Shinobu suddenly remembered. _I wish we could be alone like this more often…_ she continued and her mind suddenly generated scenarios that would result after said hypothetical situations. Shinobu blushed deeper.

_I feel like I'm forgetting something…_ Keitaro thought after a while. _Wasn't I supposed to give Shinobu something? _He tried remembering what happened the night before. All he could remember were shadows and blurry images. _A mask!_ Something in his head shouted. _That stupid bitch's face! _It shouted again. _Face?_ He asked himself. Suddenly he felt pain all over his left arm and a sharp pain in his left eye. Keitaro's legs buckled under him and he fell to the ground, tightly clutching his left arm with his right and straining his eyes.

Shinobu heard his scream before she heard him fall. "Sempai!" she screamed fearfully. "Sempai, what's wrong!" she cried, trying to be heard over his voice.

(O)

Omake (I think…): Negima

Dedicated to sub

"Takahata-sensei! Takahata-sensei!" Asuna said, running into the said teacher's office. He was just about to leave and the young woman caught him just in time.

"I said I was sorry! Please don't do this!" the younger kid pleaded, trying to catch up.

"Negi has a secret!" she said, stumbling into his room, all of her close disheveled.

"Ano?" he said, looking up at the surprise visitor. "What secret?"

"Takahata-sensei, Negi is a wizard!" she blurted, just as Negi stumbled into the office.

"No!" Negi said, his secret now exposed.

"Is that so?" Takahata questioned, taking it all in stride. Asuna nodded her head with a serious expression on her face. "Looks like the secrets out, isn't it Negi-kun?" Takahata said to the younger craftsman, completely ignoring his secret admirer.

"Wait! You knew about this?!" Asuna said, thinking she was the only person that knew Negi's secret.

"Please don't tell the council!" Negi pleaded. "It would make my sisters so sad if I lose my license!"

"Don't sweat it, Negi-kun. We can't have you lose your license just yet. We'll just erase the girl's memory," he said calmly.

"W-w-wait! You're a wizard too!" Asuna yelped in surprise.

"Guilty…" he said, looking down. "Lets get started then!" he said, and blew something into Negi's nose so he would sneeze and cause Asuna to become naked.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" Asuna exclaimed as the spell was cast. She was out like a light and he would deal with her later.

"Thankyou so much, Takahata-sensei, but don't you think it was a bit harsh?"

"Nah, the bitch deserved it," he replied, scowling.

"Oookay…" he said, then added, "What did you mean by 'you can't have me lose your license just yet'?"

"Actually I said we," he corrected and me and Eva-san need you alive until we could get rid of her, but now that she's out of the way…"

Eva-san jumped off of his back, revealing herself. Sounding like count dracla, she said, "I want to drink your blood!" She was holding her arms up for effect, shaking her fingers, but she just looked cute instead of intimidating.

"Ahh!" Negi yelped and fainted. Eva jumped or his throat and drained him until he shriveled up like a sun-dried tomato. He glowed and turned back to her adult, full demon form.

"He tastes almost as good as you do," Eva said, licking the blood from her lips.

"Are we still on for dinner then, master?"

"Of course, slave," she said and bit him. Then they went to a restaurant where they had dinner.

(Back at school) A single shriek could be heard echoing through the empty hallways: "KYAAA! I'm in the nuuude!!"

(-O-)

Heh… that didn't turn out like I first imagined it, I but wanted to get that out of my system…

Yurislovak is actually based on a mix of these crazy Russian kids I know. The last name Kerensky is also based on the guy that killed off the monarchs in Russia just before Communism started. (I don't remember exactly how, but I think he and his crew 'did' the royal family and then the communists 'did' him. Isnt life so cheesy sometimes…) get back to me if I really screwed this over though

Chicks rule! (Especially deep fried!!!)

And remember, click the 'Go' button. (Flames are still understandable)

Cheers! : )


	5. Shinmei School’s Demon Slayer! Evil Cutt...

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Eight:** Shinmei School's Demon Slayer! Evil Cutting Sword, Second Form!

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

**Disclaimer: **_See Chapter Four_

"Everyone needs to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer" –random NYU kid…

(Don't worry. Next chapter is the last fight scene in what I think will be a while…)

Thnx to cactus for notching that I spelled Urashima wrong. Lol…

Someone had told me about how they didn't like how I just randomly had Naru and the other girls up and leave last chapter. Okay, I kinda just needed them all out of the picture, so I guess it was pretty convenient and random for me to just pull them out of the picture. But my reasoning is that they all have lives outside of the Hinata-sou and just cause there's stuff going on there, doesn't mean that they should stop the rest of their lives. I know my excuse for Naru was weak, but I always wanted to see her reconcile her differences with her sister and parents...

One more thing, someone else commented about how this fic seemed to turn humorous suddenly. The answer to your questions in _no_. It has bits of humor and high times only because I find it unnatural for any kind of writing to be in only one state. (A lot of Shakespeare's stuff randomly has clowns in it to make it less depressing). Also, you'll have to bear with the seemingly random stuff that happens, but I promise all will be made clear… eventually…

(-O-)

Author: Check out cactus' 'Spur of the moment.' Someone FINALLY did my EVIL MONKEYS FROM SPACE! bit.

Evil monkeys: Curse you Su!!!

Su: (dances around like a monkey)

Author: "Su… goin' after me lucky charms…" (eye twitches as his finger goes to delete button)

(O)

"Idiot! You're making too much noise! You'll wake him up dammit!"

"It can't be helped! This part of the insertion is noisy! And its resistance doesn't help at all!"

Keitaro opened his eyes. He was in his bedroom, sleeping peacefully. _I suck my thumb?_ he asked himself when he saw his three year-old self doing it. _Wait, if I'm there… why can I see myself…_ He turned around and what he saw put him back to sleep.

"Idiot!" hollered the horny one, smacking the shorter one.

"Well, he's out like a light. I don't think he'll bother us anymore…"

Keitaro shot up. He hadn't had that nightmare since he was a little kid. His hand was over his chest and he could feel his heart pounding. His senses were blurry and he was soaked. As his vision and hearing came back, he started noticing his surroundings. He could hear a rapid medium pitched beat next to him, going as fast as his heartbeat. A steady higher-pitched note and a rapid low-pitched note suddenly accompanied it. The haze gone, he finally took in the room. Everything was white, including the bed he was on. On his right was a table with some flowers on it and on his left was a machine of some sort with wires running from it to him. The screen on it showed his heartbeat and had several warnings all over it.

The door burst open and someone rushed in.

"Keitaro, you're awake?" the person asked in surprise. Keitaro looked at the person and recognized her as Dr. Hikari. "What happened?"

"I had a nightmare…" Keitaro said once he had caught his breath. The beeps slowed down until only one pitch was playing.

"You wanna talk about it?" she asked tenderly.

"Its no big deal. Its something I've been having since I was a kid," he said, smiling weakly.

"Alright," she said, though she didn't sound like she believed him.

"Um…" Keitaro chuckled. "Why am I here again?" Hikari's face became serious.

"When Shinobu called, she told us that you were in pain for some reason. When the ambulance got there, they had to administer morphine to calm your body down even though it seemed that your pain was gone. Since then, you almost fell into a coma, but I guess you managed to pull through."

"Damn… is Shinobu okay?"

"She's been here the whole time and left only because I forced her to get some sleep," she answered, causing Keitaro to feel guilty. After a few moments, she asked, "Do you have any idea why this happened to you?"

The disturbing image from his nightmare flashed before his eyes, but he didn't flinch. "No, I have no idea," he said with a straight face. Hikari got angry for some reason.

"Maybe this is the reason," she said, slapping a sheet of paper in front of him. "It's the results from your blood test." Keitaro scanned through it and froze when he saw something circled: Crack/Cocaine – positive. Before he could make any excuses, Hikari spoke again, "I'm supposed to report this to the authorities, but after what Shinobu-chan told me, I'm letting you off the hook, but only if you promise me that you'll stop taking it." Knowing that Keitaro was a man of his word, Hikari felt that she could trust him this much.

"Alright," Keitaro said after debating for a while. _Man, I've been quite the criminal recently, haven't I?_ he thought to himself with a smirk, thinking of his recent 'joy ride,' drug abuse and 'run ins' with the Yakuza, though he couldn't really recall the latter of the offenses.

"You're a good kid, Keitaro, she said, standing up. "I don't wanna see you turn bad because of something stupid like this," she said, referring to the sheet. She left the room, closing the door behind her. Keitaro picked up the sheet. He scowled at it, crumpled it and threw it into the trashcan, basketball style. "And the crowd goes wild…" he said to himself. The door cracked open.

"H-hi sempai…" Shinobu said, slowly making her way in. "Dr. Hikari said that it you finally woke up."

"Yeah…" he said, his hand on the back of his head again.

"Y-you really scared me, Sempai…" she said, sitting on the edge of his bed. She grabbed his hand without even thinking about it. "I thought I was going to lose you…"

"I'm sorry to have worried you," he said, squeezing a bit.

"What happened anyway? You just suddenly started screaming and then you were on the ground crying," she said, eyes moistening and her voice shaky.

Keitaro sat silent for a moment, then finally said, "I was just something I ate." There. He'd done it again. He'd lied _again _to the only person in Hinata-sou that actually seemed to care about him (besides Haruka, though sometimes he wondered.) But what surprised him about all of this was that the lie wasn't that hard to say anymore; he didn't even feel guilty now.

"Aaauuu… was it something I cooked?" she said, ready to cry him a river.

_Crap! I forgot she's the cook!_

"N-no! Of course not! It was something I got from a friend…" he covered. "He treated me to sushi, and we both ate it even though it seemed rotten." Shinobu sighed with relief.

"I'm so glad…" she said, but then caught herself. "N-not that you got sick, but that it wasn't my cooking that caused you to get hurt!"

"Its okay, Shinobu," he said, hand on the back of his head again. "I know you'd never try to hurt me."

The two sat there quietly until Keitaro looked at his hand. Shinobu followed his gaze and quickly retracted her hand from his and apologized, her face a cute shade of crimson. Keitaro just laughed.

(O)

The two had walked back from the hospital together, chatting about the last school term and such. As they scaled the last few steps, Keitaro stopped. Shinobu noticed this and also stopped, turning back to ask him, "Is something wrong, Sempai?"

Keitaro looked at her eyes and said, "I'd really appreciate it if you don't tell any of the girls about yesterday. I doubt if they'd even care, but I don't want them to worry about me anyhow…"

"A-alright, Sempai," Shinobu said, smiling at him to lift him from his sudden depression. "You can count on me!"

"Thanks," Keitaro said, smiling back. They walked to the mansion and went inside. As they passed the dining room, they noticed something strange draped over the table. They went up to it to see what it was and recognized it as Su. They heard her mumbling something and got closer.

"Food…" she drooled, chomping on the table.

"Oh my gosh, I completely forgot to leave something for Su to eat for dinner!" Shinobu said. She ran to the kitchen to whip up something for the monkey, who no doubt had been there since the night before. Keitaro just sweat dropped. As he made his way to his room, he heard Su mumble something his way.

"What was that, Su?" he asked, walking up to her again.

"The package is in your room, Commander Pervert Sirrr…" she said again, moving her to attempt to salute. Keitaro's face beamed.

"Thank for your hard work, Su," he said as he left for his room in anticipation. "I'll be sure to sneak in a crate of bananas for you when Shinobu isn't looking." At the mention of bananas, Su started drooling even more, causing the pool of saliva to grow.

Moments later, Keitaro came running back and made to leave the Inn. Before he left, however, he shouted to Shinobu, "Shinobu, I'm gonna be gone for a few days. See you later!"

Shinobu's head popped out of the kitchen just as he left, covered in flour and bananas, saying, "Be careful, Sempai! You just got out of the hospital!" Keitaro shouted back an "I will!" as the sound of tires screeching near the foyer could be heard. The tires screeched again following the sound of a door opening and closing.

"Banana!" Shinobu heard. She turned to look at Su; she held a fork in one hand, a knife in the other and a crazed look in her eyes.

"Su-chan?" Shinobu questioned.

"Banana!" Su said, throwing her utensils down and lunging for the teenager.

(O)

"Where did you score this?" Yurislovak said in utter disbelief.

"It doesn't matter!" Keitaro said, itching to get the monster rolling. "All that matters is that it works.

Yurislovak had picked up Keitaro from the top of the stairs with his prized super-car after a promise from Keitaro that he had something that would blow his mind. After three hours of installing the device, Yurislovak looked at awe at nothing. The nothing, however was his Veyron cloaked by Su's ingenious device.

"NOW LETS GET ROLLING!!!" Yurislovak yelled when the consequences of the cloak sunk in.

Naru was back at her house, watching the news with her family. The reporter was saying something about multiple ghost sightings all over Japan that happened to follow defined a curve.

_Weird…_ they all thought.

(O)

(Over a week later)

Naru slowly walked up the steps of Hinata-sou, a big goofy smile on her face. Still in a good mood from the time she spent with her family, she felt that nothing could possibly go wrong. The sky was clear, the sun was shine… and yesterday she found out that SHE HAD MADE IT INTO TODAI!!!

Naru giggled at the thought of what would happen when she got back. Mitsune would throw a party, Shinobu, Su and Sarah would congratulate her. Motoko would do some good luck ritual. Mustumi would go, Ara ara! (Mutsumi had told her that she had gotten in since she found out the day before Naru, though Naru didn't get a chance to tell her about her own acceptance yet) Haruka would give her a lopsided smirk and Keitaro…

She stopped right in front of the door.

"Keitaro would be happy for me, right?" she asked no one. From the way they had departed, she doubted it.

As she made her way to open the door, she heard a scream. Naru quickly walked in to find… Kitsune sprawled over the floor with Su and Sarah tickling her.

"Stop! Mercy! I give!!!" she yelled in between her laughs. Naru sweat dropped.

The girls got off of her while she got up. She reached into her backpack and gave them their presents.

"Banana crate opener for you," she said, giving the said article to Su. She skipped away happily.

"And a water gun for you," she followed, giving the said article to Sarah. Sarah ran after her, an evil smirk plastered over her face.

"Hey Shinobu," she called, motioning for her to come. "I know you're growing up, so I got you this," she said, handing her a _smack!_ "Ow… hey Naru, when'd you get back?"

"God Mitsune, poisoning Shinobu's mind with these weird things the second you get back," she said, taking the said article and throwing it in the trash.

"Hey, a girl's got her needs…" Kitsune said, causing Shinobu to go red when she realized what she meant. Su came running back with Sarah not far behind.

"Naru-san! Something's wrong with Keitarooo!" Su said, with sweat dropping Sarah just behind.

"You think…"

"I was looking for his dirty books to imitate, but all I found were these!" she said, giving her a bunch of magazines. Upon inspection, all she saw were cars. There was a model once or twice, but they weren't as 'professional' as the ones in Keitaro's normal magazines.

"Maybe he really likes cars?" Naru interjected, not knowing anything else to say.

"But he's no fun like that…" Su whined. Sarah smacked her and the two ran along.

"Hey, what's all this for?" Naru asked when she saw piles of stuff all over the floor.

"We're throwing a party for you three ronins getting in!" Mitsune said, opening a bottle of sake from nowhere.

"Wait… how'd you know that I got in?" Naru asked, sure she didn't tell anyone.

"Mutsumi told us," Kitsune replied. Mutsumi walked in just when she said that.

"Ara ara, what did I say?" she asked.

"You knew I got into Todai?" Naru asked her.

"Ara ara you did? That's wonderful!" she said, taking Naru's hand and dancing around her. The other two girls just sweat dropped. A thought suddenly occurred to the newest arrival.

"Keitaro got in?" Naru said in disbelief.

"Yeah," Kitsune said.

"YAHOO!!!" she heard someone say from the rooftop.

"He's been doing that every few hours since yesterday…"

Beep BEEP! A car honked from outside. Moments later, Keitaro came to the lobby with a big smile plastered onto his face. "Hello Mutsumi! Kitsune!" then dryly, "Naru…" Before she could say anything, he bolted out, excited over something else.

Naru's heart dropped. _I thought that maybe after some time away he'd want to make up…_

"I don't like that guy," Shinobu said.

"What guy?" Naru asked.

"That guy that came to pick Sempai up. He's been going with him to who knows where every day and Sempai hardly even talks to us anymore."

Needless to say, Naru didn't have much fun at the party.

(O)

Her ears perked up. She could feel _it_. Its aura was all over the place. Motoko growled as she entered Hinata-sou. _Urashima is still among us? Curses! I had left the girls completely vulnerable to his perverseness!_

She saw no one on her way to her room, and when she had finished unpacking, she felt _it_ again.

_Urashima…_ she thought, growling. Within the blink of an eye, her unsheathed Katana was in her hands, her legs a blur as she sought out the holder of her eternal hatred.

The shouting of "Pervert!" and the inevitable slap just fed the fuel to her fire.

"Urashima! You shall pay for your vile, lecherous ways!" she shouted when she saw him. Keitaro stood up, rubbing his chin. "Man, they should at least lock the door when they go to the bathroom," he mumbled to himself, seemingly not noticing Motoko.

"URASHIMA!" she boomed, finally catching his attention.

"Yeah? What?" he said, annoyed.

"I challenge you to a duel!" she cried. "And if you lose, you will be banished from here forever!" Surprisingly, he didn't cower from her intimidation as usual.

"Okay Motoko, but let us do it the proper way," Keitaro said calmly. _I've seen this coming for quite some time…_ he thought.

(O)

Everyone was gathered outside in the hot springs, most still in their bathing suits. The happy banners floated lazily in the air as the two fighters stood face to face, each wielding a katana supplied by Motoko. Though Kitsune had said that she had forgiven Keitaro of what he did to her before (something about finding out more about herself and weird writer's stuff like that) because she realized it really was all of her fault, Motoko was on a roll and would not back down with her challenge.

"When you lose," Motoko started. "You will leave immediately and surrender your managership to someone more… proper," she said, proper implying a female.

"And when _you _lose," Keitaro said with a confidant face. "You'll wear this," he said, smirking while holding a white costume of some kind. "And sing to the tune of 'Little Rabbit Fu Fu.'"

"Everyone acknowledges the terms of this battle?" Motoko asked, referring to the girls. When they all nodded, she turned to Keitaro and said with a smug look on her face, "There is no more backing out now, Urashima!"

"It was foolish of you to challenge me, Motoko," Keitaro said, face not faltering. The two stood their ground, staring off at each other. Motoko, having desired to do this since Keitaro first came into the picture, started the battle by charging at him with her Katana.

Keitaro still stood calmly, as if he weren't worried. As Motoko neared, she leapt into the air for an aerial assault and to take him by surprise in the process. _Not that this is necessary, but a duel must be taken seriously._

Motoko swung down, but was surprised to find that Keitaro had anticipated the move and prepared accordingly. Keitaro pushed up hard on his sword and sent Motoko flying, but she righted herself before she landed.

"I see you've been training, Urashima, but it will not help you!" she said, unleashing one of her trademark attacks. "ROCK CUTTING SWORD"

Keitaro stood his ground, waiting for the attack to connect. Just as it was about to strike, he jumped past it and slashed towards Motoko.

After the attacked exploded and caused the whole bath to be rained upon by its hot spring water, Motoko expected Keitaro to be sent flying away. Instead, he jumped towards her with his sword ready to strike. Her reflexes managed to block in time and the two swords sparked as Keitaro's sword slid against hers. Keitaro was now standing on the ground, his sword pushing against Motoko's.

Motoko growled and pushed him forward. Before he could react, she sent another 'Rock Cutting Sword' his way. Unable to dodge, he took the full fury of the attack and was sent tumbling backwards, diving with a big splash into the hot spring. Seconds ticked away as if in molasses until the water exploded and Keitaro rocketed into the air.

"Thousand Needles Attack!" he shouted as he swung his sword at Motoko. Showers of thin needles matted the ground that Motoko had been standing on the moment before._ Since when did he possess Ki based attacks?_ she thought while standing on the roof, trying to catch her breath. Keitaro landed on the same roof moments later and charged her.

"Hiya!" he said and swung down onto her. She brought her sword up in time and blocked a relentless torrent of strikes. She was force back until she reached the roof's edge. Unable to walk any farther, she jumped back and landed on the front yard. Keitaro jumped down after her, a bloodthirsty glint in his eye and the rest of the girls ran through the Inn to see the unbelievable fight.

Keitaro charged again and sent a torrent of strikes at her, each of which Motoko blocked, but chipped at her stamina. _I shall actually lose at this rate!_ she thought in horror. Trying to change her tactics, she pushed off Keitaro's sword with all her might and went flying into the air. "ROCK CUTTING SWORD!" she yelled thrice and sent three singularities of ki flying his way.

Keitaro managed to deflect the first attack, but the other two hit him head on. Motoko landed, weak from her monumental loss of ki, and used her blade to support herself. Keitaro laid on the ground some distance away, a heap of male worthlessness. She walked/wobbled up to him as her strength came back. When she had reached him, fully composed, she was about to start a lengthy monologue of the shortcomings of all males and how it was a glorious day truly worth celebrating now that the offending male would no longer dishonor them with his presence.

She'd had this speech ready for quite some time now and was looking forward to finally saying it, but Keitaro started to twitch. _Curses to men who are all foul! What will it take to vanquish him!_ she thought.

Keitaro slowly got back on his feet, though his arms and neck just seemed to hang lifelessly. Slowly, Keitaro's arms held his sword up while his neck went back to its natural position; he had a smirk on his face.

"That was impressive, Motoko-_chan_, but not good enough… Your skills have seemed to become rusty," he taunted.

"Urashima!!!" Motoko said in a rage. "BOULDER CUTTING BLADE!" she screamed, sending another ki attack at him. With a swipe with his katana, he casually deflected it back to her. Motoko barely jumped away in time.

"Thousand Needles Attack!" Keitaro said, swiping his sword. Motoko had just stabilized herself from dodging her own attack, so she couldn't move in time. She braced for the pain, but felt nothing. When she opened her eyes, she saw the needles passing right _through_ her. _An illusion!_ She suddenly realized, but her right shoulder registered a lot of pain. She looked towards her right and saw Keitaro about to strike her with his sword's hilt once again.

She jumped away just as he clipped her and was about to send another violent torrent of wind at him, but he was already breathing down her neck, sending a volley of swings at her. While she blocked all of his attacks, she just couldn't get over that maniacal, blood-lusting look on his face. _This is not the Urishma that we know. It's as if he's possessed…_

Then is all clicked. _That must be it! There is no other way for him to suddenly become so powerful over so little time. It would also explain his dark disposition… Don't worry, Urashima, I will rid you of this demon. I will deal with you later!_

Motoko managed to find an opening and jumped away. Before Keitaro could attack her, she attacked him with a 'Boulder Cutting Blade.' While distracted by this, she made her finishing move. "Shinmei Secret Arts: Evil Cutting Sword, Second Form!" she shouted and let loose the attack.

Everyone on the sides covered their eyes as the whole area in front of Hinata-sou was lit up like a bomb went off. The attack headed straight for Keitaro just as he deflected her 'Boulder Cutting Blade.' Motoko held a knowing smirk on her face as everything was engulfed by light.

The white light faded.

Motoko stared at her hand in disbelief, as if the katana in her hand wasn't real; as if it were a figment of her imagination.

If only it were so.

She looked back at the other girls, each holding expressions of disbelief. She finally looked at the face of her adversary. Keitaro.

"I told you it was foolish to challenge me," he said with a smirk.

"How… how could I have lost!" she cried, dropping her katana. _There was no demon! _As the sharpened piece of forged metal clattered on the ground, it snapped in half at the point where the victor had struck. _How could this be? How could _I _lose to a vile, perverted male such as Urashima?_

Keitaro had run through Motoko's finishing move without a scratch and broke her sword, effectively ending the match.

"You lost Motoko," Keitaro said darkly. "A deal is a deal."

"I'm afraid that I have to agree with him, Motoko-chan..." Naru said disappointedly. Kitsune smirked. Motoko came back a few moments later without wearing any of her clothes...

Except the white bunny suit Keitaro had given her. It had a hole where the face would be so everyone could see the look of shame on her face. Keitaro smirked.

"Now, dance!" he ordered. Motoko sighed heavily.

"Little rabbit Fu Fu..." she started, singing the song while she hopped back and forth, wiggling her hips, almost on the verge of tears. Sarah had a camera (like magic…) and was recording the whole ordeal with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Keitaro..." Naru said. "This has gone on for long enough. You've had your fun, tell her to stop..."

"No way! This is too good!" Keitaro said, joined by Kitsune. Naru glared at the latter and tried to reason with the high-and-mighty former ronin.

"Keitaro, you're humiliating her-"

He cut her off, angrily saying, "Like you and the rest of them always humiliated me?" Naru recoiled back at the force of his answer, if not only in shock, but in guilt.

"This is too much!" Motoko suddenly burst out. "I cannot stand this shame," she said dangerously, a dagger at hand. "I will commit seppoku for my humiliation!"

Before anyone could hold her back, she held the dagger over her chest and stabbed.

But the was no longer a dagger in her hands, only a pissed of Keitaro standing in front of her. He held up the hand that had magically taken the dagger from her. He stretched his fingers, letting the dagger go.

SLAP!

Motoko held a hand to her cheek, completely taken by surprise by what he had done; and the expression on his face.

His face covered with tears, he said to her weakly, "You and your damn honor…" Then, with a voice as loud and forceful as Hitler's, he screamed, "YOU FUCKING DISGRACE!" and stormed off.

(-O-)

OH MY GOD, UNHOLY SHIT GOES _DOWN_ NEXT CHAPTER!!!

And remember; click the 'Go' button on your way out. (Flames are still understandable and especially welcome if critical)

Cheers! )


	6. Farewell

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Nine:** Farewell

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

**Disclaimer: **_See Chapter Four_

Thnx to glazedandconfused for that correction about Kerensky

I decided I'm too lazy to fix the ooc-ness, so I'm not gonna overhaul the rest of the story.

Some may wonder why Keitaro says what he says about the promise, but he realized what he said when what was supposed to happen didn't happen when he went to where that thing was supposed to happen with Yurislovak last chapter.

(-O-)

I push my fingers into my eyes  
It's the only thing that slowly stops the ache  
But it's made of all the thing I am today  
Jesus, it never ends, it works it's way inside  
If the pain goes on,  
I'm not gonna make it!

All I've got...all I've got is insane...  
All I've got...all I've got is insane...  
All I've got...all I've got is insane!  
All I've got...all I've got is insane!

- Slipknot (Duality)

(O)

They say now: "What! shall we indeed be returned to our former state?

What! - when we shall have become rotten bones?

They say: "It would, in that case, be a return with loss!"

But verily, it will be but a single Compelling Cry,

When, behold, they will be in the full awakening to Judgment.

(O)

Keitaro dejectedly looked at his mirror image. Or what used to be his mirror image. His own body looked like a zombie from resident evil; his tissue was rotting away and he held a lifeless face. His left arm was bloodied and covered in slimy yellow pus. His left eye was hanging out, blood, pus and mucus oozing out in a throbbing motion with a frequency similar to his heartbeat. His body was completely covered in welts and bruises and there was a big bloodied hole on his chest, encrusted with brown dried blood that caked its way down to his hips. His mirror image, who didn't even have a minor abrasion, held a smug smile on its face, happier than usual.

"So, you still think you know them as well as you do?" he asked with pep.

"I don't care anymore…" Keitaro replied in a bushed voice. "I don't care about anything anymore…"

"What about Todai? And that girl you've been chasing after all this time?"

"TO HELL WITH HER!" he spat with an angry glare. "To hell with all those lies…" he said, his face dead once more.

"Well, you've gotten into Todai, you must feel a little proud?"

"I'm _so_ happy…" he sneered sarcastically.

"Well, you were pretty happy when you got the news…"

"When I realized that nothing changed and that the promise was just a lie, I just stopped caring."

"So you just sit around and mope all day?"

"What's it to you! Just leave me alone! Just… everyone… just… please leave me alone…" he cried, covering his slimy face with his filthy hands.

"Is that what you truly wish?" his mirror image said in a tone similar to Kitsune's.

"Yes…"

"Then just let me take the lead. I will rid you of all your pain _very_ soon…" With that, the mirror image took a step back and vanished into the emptiness. Keitaro stood there alone in the cold, dark void as he, too, slowly faded into the darkness.

(O)

Dinner went by almost completely silent. Naturally, Su and Sarah were being noisy, but there was tension among the rest of the residents with Keitaro's presence among them once again. Every time Naru glanced at Keitaro, she could see him staring daggers at Motoko, as if he was mad that she lost. Motoko hardly touched her food before she asked to be excused with a cracked voice and ran away to her room. Everyone else finished their food, leaving Keitaro and Shinobu alone again. He offered to help her with the dishes, and she accepted, though she had become afraid of him a little after being witness to his power.

_Sempai's gotten so scary… But why was he crying after he stopped Motoko-sempai from stabbing herself?_

"I'm gonna miss her cooking…" Keitaro thought out loud, causing Shinobu to ask what he meant. He replied that she'd find out soon enough.

Around ten-ish, Keitaro called for a meeting. After everyone had arrived he started speaking.

"I've been doing some thinking recently and I come to realize that Motoko-chan is right," he said, pausing. The said person hung her head in shame at her mention. "It isn't proper for me to run the dorm and it should have been fixed a long time ago. After regarding most of your past complaints and careful deliberation of my own, I've decided to relinquish the duty of manager to someone more proper," he said, glaring at Motoko again.

"But Sempai!" Shinobu started.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking at the young woman. "But my decision is final. In both all of yours' and my interest, I will leave the dorms about three weeks from now, which shall be a little over a week into the fall semester. I have already made contact with your new manager and _she_ said she will be able to start two weeks from now, letting her get to know the dorms and all of you before I give her all of her full responsibilities."

"Who's gonna be the new manager?" Kitsune asked her eyes slightly ajar.

"You'll find out two weeks from now," Kietaro answered, a sly smile on his face. "Any more questions?" he asked, not waiting for an answer. "No? Good. Good night." With that, he bounded off to bed with a lighter step.

"Does that mean Keitaro isn't going to play?" Su asked.

"No, Su. I don't think Keitaro wants to play anymore…" Kitsune said, patting the disappointed kid on the head.

(O)

The next two weeks went by like a blur. Everything started to go back to its pre-Keitaro days since said ex-ronin was only around to do his basic duties like cleaning and eat dinner. He never spoke to any of them while he was there except for Shinobu, since he stuck around to help with the dishes. They had all tried to make him change his decision, but he was just too stubborn. They had asked his aunt Haruka to help, but she said that he was a grown man that was entitled to his own decisions. Presently, Keitaro and Yurislovak were somewhere inside his expansive house, staring at the fruits of their labor.

"It's finally done," Yurislovak said, beaming.

"It looks better than I expected…" Keitaro said, sweating from all the strain it took. "Too bad we can't use it yet…"

"Don't worry. When we do, it'll blow everyone's freakin' mind!"

"Yeah," Keitaro said, smirking. The two went to his entertainment system and played some more videogames. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said after taking one last look at their creation.

"I'll see your mom too!" he shot at him slyly, getting a laugh from the ex-ronin.

(O)

Naru was walking back from the bookstore. The books she needed for her classes were expensive, but she managed to afford them. _What am I moping around for?_ Naru thought when she noticed her demeanor._ I've finally gotten into the most prestigious college in all of Japan!_

But it didn't feel as satisfying as she thought it would. She had originally tried to get in for Seta's sake, but she had long gotten over him and saw him more as the mentor he really was. _Why did I go into Todai then?_ She thought to herself and stopped her trek. _What was the point of it all? Why did I even try again?_

An image of Keitaro flashed before his eyes. _It's cause we promised to get in together…_ she thought sadly. Here she was though, all alone again…

The figure in the black ninja suit had been stalking its target for sometime now. The target stopped moving. That was all it took for her to get moving. The target seemed like there was something troubling her mind, so it made this little errand all the more easier. _Why am I stuck with such a simple mission?_ she whined internally. _Best just get this done with…_ she thought as she finally made her move. She jumped out of the bushes and landed without any noise. She ran up the steps, ready to ambush the girl from behind.

_Too easy…_ she smirked, her arm around her victim's neck in a chokehold. She brought up her dagger and put it against the girl's neck.

The girl screamed and squirmed after she realized what was going on. "Someone please help me! I'm being raped!!!"

"You may be a looker, but you're _not _that good looking," the attacker said cruelly. "I'm not gonna rape you though. I'm gonna do a **_whole_ **lot worse," she cackled. She was going to crack her in the head to knock her out when she suddenly felt a presence next to her. She turned around, using the girl as a shield.

"I thought I told you people to stay away from Hinata?" the man asked darkly.

_Shit! Why didn't I notice him? Damn, now everything is ruined if I can't lure him to my trap with his girlfriend!_

"Did you really think they'd just let you go like that?" that attacker said with a mocking tone.

"Let her go," he said darkly, his bangs shadowing his face. "**_No one_** touches _any_ of them! If you so much as harm a single hair on her, I swear you're gonna wish you were never born!"

In defiance, the attacker brought up her dagger and cut off one of Naru's antennas. Naru had been frozen the whole time and couldn't believe what was happening._ Does he still like me?_ she suddenly thought after she realized it was Keitaro who was standing there in her defense.

Fast as lightning, Keitaro punched the attacker's hand, sending the dagger flying. He also punched the elbow of the arm holding Naru, causing her to let go and reel in pain. Naru stumbled away from her and ran to Keitaro, holding onto him for protection. She felt comforted by the fact that he held onto her with one of his arms and turned so that he partially shielded her from the assailant with his body.

_Dammit!_ the attacker thought, taken by surprise. _Now I have to start all over again. I can't believe I let my guard down like that!_ She suddenly disappeared after she threw a smoke bomb.

"Keitaro, who was that?" Naru asked, crying from being scared shitless.

"Go home," Keitaro said.

"What?"

"GO HOME NOW!" he yelled after he shoved her away and ran down the steps, three at a time.

Confused, Naru ran home crying, knowing nothing better to do. When she arrived, everyone asked her why she was crying and when she explained what happened, they all went outside to look for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. They called the police but they could do nothing about it but give the general populace a warning about the intruder since Naru couldn't identify the attacker. They all worried about Keitaro and jumped to the phone when they got a call late that evening. Shinobu picked it up and heard the voice of some foreign kid. He asked if Naru was okay and when she said yes, he said Keitaro wasn't going home that day and he hung up. She assumed that it was Keitaro's friend and told everyone that he must have been fine, since he would have said something otherwise.

Everyone decided that everything was okay and went about their business, but Naru still had doubts. She went to talk to Haruka about them, and found her books still strewn over the steps on her way to the teashop.

"Haruka-san?" Naru asked as she entered.

"Naru-san, welcome. Should I get you some Oolong tea?" she asked. (I forget the tea that she really drinks, but I think that's what it sounds like)

"Sure," she said and took a seat. Haruka came back a few minutes later with a pair of steaming teacups.

"So, what's on your mind?" she asked lighting up.

"Its Keitaro…" Naru said after taking a sip of her tea. "Do you know what kind of people he hangs around with now?"

"What do you mean?" Haruka asked. Naru explained what happened earlier and her thoughts about how he seemed to know her attacker. Haruka took a long drag and seemed to age a bit. She put her hands to her temples, as she seemed to think.

"Kami… I didn't know it got this bad…" she said.

"What do you mean by 'this bad'?"

"Well, Dr. Hikari told me that Keitaro's started to take drugs…"

"What?!" Naru said in disbelief. "Since when? For how long?"

"She said it started sometime around when he got his cast removed. She made him promise not to take any more and you know how he is with promises. But with what you're telling me, I don't know what to think anymore. Keitaro's never acted like this before."

"Then what should we do? We can't just leave him like that! What if he gets seriously hurt… or worse?"

"Unfortunately, Naru, we can't do anything. This is Keitaro's fight, and if we meddle, it'll probably just get worse…"

"But… But what if it still gets worse?"

"Well, it's all really up to Keitaro. Its his choice what he wants to do with his life. The best thing for us to do is to do nothing." With that, she got up to attend to a customer who just arrived.

_Do nothing?_ Naru repeated in her head. _Can I really sit back and do nothing?_

(O)

(Back to Keitaro, where we left him)

_She was attacked!_ Keitaro's protection mechanisms were on the fritz. _The girls were attacked because of me!_

He had been running through the forest autonomously, giving chase to the attacker. He sped up when he saw her in a clearing.

"You bitch! I'll _kill _you!" he screamed with rage. He ran towards her and gave her a momentum-backed punch. She exploded in a shower of splinters.

"Huh?" Keitaro said when the unexpected win came. He looked in front of himself and saw a split log with an imprint of his hand embedded in it. "What the hell?" he asked himself. He screamed when he felt multiple hot 'somethings' dig into his back. He put his hands there and took the 'somethings' out. What he found were a couple of bloodied ninja stars.

"It's a very handy trick when you want to surprise your enemy," came a feminine voice behind him. He turned to see who it was and saw the ninja in her black attire, though her mask was gone. She had green hair, hazel eyes and quite a stunning figure. "My name is Ayame," said, bowing. "I am a mercenary of the Black Ninja Stars."

"Never heard of it," Keitaro scowled.

"That's because everyone who knows of us outside of our circle are no longer alive," she said with a dark look on her face. "You and your girlfriend are not among our circle!" she said and jumped at him.

"SHES NOT MY GIRLFREIND!" he shouted and leapt for an intercept.

She slashed at him with her dagger, but he jerked his body around and grabbed her by the wrist. Using his rotational momentum to his advantage, he twisted and flung her straight down. She landed with a resounding 'Thud!' and was covered by a cloud of dust. Keitaro landed a few feet away at the end of a graceful parabola.

"Chidori!" boomed the dust cloud and a sphere of dangerous looking 'something' came flying his way, creating a hole in the cloud it exited from. Keitaro just managed to jump to the side as the sphere thundered past the space he stood only moments before. He jerked his head towards it when he heard/saw the extraordinary explosion that resulted from it crashing into a tree. The devastation was… cataclysmic. Where there used to stand dozens of old colossal trees now stood cinders and smoke.

Taking Keitaro's suddenly lack of concentration to her advantage, she ran up to him and sent a volley of blows aiming for his pressure points. He managed to dodge most of them, but a few broke through his defense. He seemed to by unaffected by the attacks, however, so she retreated to try another attack.

"I really don't have much time to play, so I'll just end this quickly, she said smiling. She moved her hands again and said, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." The whole of the devastated battlefield was covered with smoke. As it cleared, he could hear the sounds of multiple swords being unsheathed. When he could see, he found fifty Ayames jumping towards him, the wrong end of a Wakazashi pointing at him. Keitaro tried to get out of the way by jumping into the air, but the Ayames just used each other as a boost to catch him. He screamed a blood-curling scream that caused the birds that weren't frightened by Ayame's previous attacks to fly away. Before he knew what was happening, he was on the ground again, around twenty Wakazashis on or in him from all directions.

"Bitch," was all Keitaro say through the wall of anguish. _What happened? Why can't I fight her?_

"Now, now," one of them said. "Watch your mouth," another finished. Keitaro writhed with agony, only causing the pain to increase since there were still some swords embedded in his flesh. Everything was turning red since the cuts on his face were now bleeding into his eye.

_Do you want to win?_ something asked.

_Yes,_ Keitaro answered with a desperate edge.

_Why? Do you want to protect them?_

_No… I want… I want her **dead**!_

That's what I wanted to hear… 

Keitaro smirked as his vision suddenly became clearer. The pain that was overwhelming his body was still there, but it didn't hurt anymore. It gave him pleasure. He started laughing.

"What are you so happy about? You're about to die! "

"I'm laughing because of this!" he said and threw them all off of him. He them grabbed one of the clones' Wakazashis and stabbed another in the arm.

POOF! All of the clones disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The real ninja jumped back, clutching her arm.

"How did you know it was me?" she simply asked, numbing the pain with one of her secret techniques.

"I can smell you," he said, looking at her. What she saw scared her; he was completely covered in his own blood and his eyes were dilated. He slowly advanced towards her.

"Kokuangyo no Jutsu!" she cried just after completing her seal. Keitaro was suddenly engulfed in darkness. He couldn't see anything for some reason. He started panicking and lashed out wildly in the air. All the while, Ayame performed field repairs to her impaled arm. She shifted when she felt a disturbance in the air.

The disturbance was the Wakazashi spinning past where she had just stood. _How did he break through that seal so quickly?_

The answer was obvious when she looked at Keitaro; he never broke the seal. He broke his eyes. They oozed out blood, giving the impression that he was crying black tears.

"What kind of monster are you!" she shouted when he lunged at her, his mouth wide open as if to bite her.

"Hahahahaa!" Keitaro laughed manically as he punched her in the stomach, causing her to fly to the smoldering ashes she had created. _How is he still moving?!_ she thought as she quickly got back to her feet.

Seeing no other way out, she decided to use her ultimate technique. But she needed time first. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" she yelled again and her clones reappeared. "Bakuretsu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" she yelled again and the clones doubled. Without hesitation, they all charged Keitaro and piled on top of him until all that could be seen was a mass pile of flesh that would make most men jealous had the situation not been so _grave_.

"Detonate!" she ordered and the clones exploded into a burst of high explosive. His scream went unheard as the explosion caused vibrations within the earth that a nearby earthquake probe mistook for a shockwave. Keitaro was crushed into the ground because of the resulting pressure and most of his body was now charred to a crisp. The smell of burning blood and fat were all that registered into his highly tuned nose and it just made his hunger for blood go wild. He slowly got back to his feet while his exposed bones magically regenerated the flesh that once covered them.

While Keitaro was recovering, Ayame worked diligently to finish her seal in time, doing her best to not to watch the grotesque display of Keitaro literally rising back from the ashes.

Her seal finished, she stabbed into the wound Keitaro had given her and let her blood flow into the ground. Keitaro had jumped again for the attack. Half of his face was burned while the other had the bone exposed, black ashes staining it in a manner that gave the illusion that it was actually his hair. The scariest part, however, was his eyes. With no epidermis to cover them, the spheres stood fully exposed, completely dilated and bloodshot. Before he reached her, however, a bolt of lightning struck from the clear sky and sent Keitaro rocketing the other way. When he got up to take a look, he found a large yellow bird between he and the ninja. All he did was start cackling as he charged at the new foe, a darker glint in his black-in-red eyes.

Ayame watched with disbelief as her target charged after Zapdos. But what made her completely dumbfounded was how he could possibly still be moving. Zapdos' entrance had scorched even more of his flesh than the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Bakuretsu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu combo had dealt, leaving him looking like a walking pile of bones. His arms were clearly missing their biceps, but he still made to strangle her protector.

"Zapdos, Chuusuusei Biribiri!" she ordered. She was starting to get suspicious of his abilities. _Is he one of those? _The bird squawked and pecked Keitaro with its beak. Mega volts of electricity traveled through his neck into his spinal chord and finally, his brain. Keitaro was once again flung back, but as she expected, he got up again. It was disgusting to watch as his flesh crawled up his skull and matted it with his original face. The sight of watching his skeletal muscles shift or contract this way and that almost made her want to turn back and throw up. The smirk was still there when his lips reformed.

"Zapdos, hold him down!" she ordered and the bird obeyed. It flew high into the air and swooped down, talons facing forward. Before Keitaro could react, the bird landed on top of him with one of its massive feet curling against his left shoulder. As Ayame slowly approached him, he struggled in a futile attempt to be released.

"There's only one way to make sure," she said, thinking out loud. She made another seal and said "Kyuushuu no Chakra!" after putting her hands to his temples.

Nothing happened, expect that Keitaro struggled more to her touch, snarling like a bloodthirsty wolf.

"As I thought," she said to herself. "Zapdos, return!" she ordered. The bird gave a questioning squawk, but she repeated her order. The bird opened its wings to their full extent, shadowing the whole ravaged battlefield and flew as if with a giant gust of wind. Keitaro moved to attack her, but she performed a Chuusuusei Biribiri and sent him flying once more. She moved her hands once more and shouted "Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Edo Tensei." She ran away as fast as she could, muttering under her breath, "Be at one with your own kind, you unholy freak of nature!"

As Keitaro, once again, tried to get on his feet, the ground erupted and he fell on his recomposed ass. He snarled at whatever was coming and found a giant skeletal rat pouncing after him. It still retained its innards and had skeletal muscles and blood vessels matting its bones, but it still gave the illusion of a large walking skeleton. The rat landed with a content squeak, having swallowed him whole, earth and charred vegetation with him.

_I want **blood**…_ a dark, animal-like mind thought.

(O)

(Some distance away, a large building)

"You insolent assholes!" Ayame screamed, storming into the room.

"What's wrong? Why did you leave! You had him dammit!" yelled a rather angry man.

"Our contract clearly states that we don't kill those things!"

"What do you mean?"

She didn't answer and stormed off again. "We're keeping your deposit, you cheating scum!" she said over her shoulder.

"WHAT!" the man said and went to follow her, slamming the door to his office shut. It seemed empty until a faint giggle could be heard. A girl was looking through a large telescope. What she saw was Keitaro exploding out of the rat's gut and eating it alive. She giggled again when the rat writhed, probably squealing in agony.

Her hands slowly slid into her pants and into her underwear…

(O)

(Three hours later, Yurislovak's house)

"Goddamn it, I'm coming already!" Yuri yelled as he ran to open the door. _Damn butler's so damn lazy!_ he thought. "WHAT THE HELL do you want…" he exclaimed, until he saw who was on his front porch. "Keitaro, are you okay man?" he said, eyes bulging. He looked fine, but he was covered with dust, ash and blood that caked his body and tattered clothes.

He just smiled at him and simply said, "We're leaving."

Yurislovak looked around before he answered, "First lets get you cleaned up. Holy _shit_ you look like you've been through the grinder!"

Yurislovak tried to get answers from Keitaro before he went to the shower, but he ordered him to check if a girl named 'Naru' back at his charge was okay and to tell the residents that he wasn't coming back that day. He did as he was told and then waited impatiently for Keitaro to come out of the shower.

Keitaro came out with the change of clothes that Yurislovak gave him: an oversized black T, black boxers and large, baggy black jeans. He stood in the hallway, glaring at the said ex-ronin, his foot tapping.

"What the hell was up with you showing up at my door looking like you got shot ten times with a shotgun and then again just for measure?" he said angrily. Then he realized that Keitaro had nary a scratch on him. Keitaro just looked at him with cold eyes, though he was still smiling.

"Hack into your dad's police account," he simply ordered as he headed for the eccentric Russian's room.

"What the fuck? Why the hell should I do that?" he sputtered, grabbing Keitaro by his shoulder and forcing him to face him.

With a look that could kill, he said in a dark voice, "We're gonna go hunt us some Yakuza…"

Yurislovak's face went from anger to utter confusion to a smile. He let go and the two walked to his room while Yurislovak played a single memory in his head. The one time he should have done something, but couldn't.

When they raped and shot his mom _right in front of his eyes…_

(-O-)

Remember; click the 'Go' button on your way out. (Flames are still understandable and especially welcome if critical)

Cheers! )


	7. New Management

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Ten:** New Management

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

**Disclaimer: **_See Chapter Four_

Rated R for Language, Violence and Adult Situations…

(-O-)

Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness  
I need to calculate  
What creates my own madness  
And I'm addicted to your punishment  
And you're the master  
And I am waiting for disaster

I feel irrational  
So confrontational  
To tell the truth I am  
Getting away with murder  
It isn't possible  
To never tell the truth  
But the reality is I'm getting away with murder

Getting away, Getting away, Getting away

I drink my drink and I don't even want to  
I think my thoughts when I don't even need to  
I never look back cause I don't even want to  
And I don't need to  
Because I'm getting away with murder

-Papa Roach (Getting Away With Murder)

(O)

The laser green Ninja purred to a stop in front of the "El Gato Negro," a Hispanic club located in the shadier part of Kanagawa. It was late in the night, but it was around this time when the place got lively. Music could be heard blaring out of the partially opened door and the sounds of laughter and merriment were bountiful.

There were two riders: the driver and the passenger, who was disembarking. They both wore black leather jackets with black T-shirts underneath with the Punisher's symbol and large black, baggy jeans. They both had leather gloves and black military-style boots. They also wore black motorcycle helmets with a black visor that hid their faces. The driver moved to get off and follow, but the passenger nodded his head no and pointed to the other side of the street where he wanted him to wait. The driver looked at the passenger's visor for a few moments, most likely glaring daggers at him, but he relented and made his way to the other side, just under a flickering streetlight. He sat there, the Ninja idling and his arms crossed impatiently as if to say, "Get this over with quickly."

Satisfied that his companion would not follow him, the passenger slowly made his way into the club, the sound of his solid heavy metallic bat dragging over the ground quickly being engulfed by the sounds of gaiety inside.

He opened the door discreetly and slowly made his way to the wet bar. He sat next to an intimidating looking fellow with a hot Chinese mail-in-wife on his lap. The girl was straddled on him, facing him and giving him a sloppy kiss. A waiter came by and gave him a drink. More interested with sucking on alcohol, he unceremoniously pushed her off and started chugging.

The waiter went up to the newcomer and asked him nervously what he wanted. He wasn't afraid of the newcomer himself, even if he couldn't see the face under the helmet. He was just afraid of what his 'normals' would do to him and the store. _It wasn't easy replacing all the furniture that was destroyed by that fire…_ he thought with a groan.

"Something smooth," was the newcomer's response. The waiter hurriedly made off to get the order to get rid of him before anything happened.

Pissed off that her asshole boyfriend had just dumped her for a fucking Hard Lemonade, she decided to piss him off. She went up to the newcomer and took his helmet off and placed it on the counter. She was surprised to find a babyish face that looked at her questionably. Without hesitation, she sat on his lap sideways and started Frenching him, holding his head with her arms to keep him from escaping. Surprisingly, he kissed her back, pleasantly returning the favor. The drunken and now pissed off boyfriend was ready to kill his bitch girlfriend and the bastard she was making out with right in front of him. This asshole actually seemed to be enjoying it, as if he had no idea whose girl he was slobbering over. Before he could say something, though, his girlfriend suddenly started pushing the asshole away to break the kiss that he was getting really into.

"What the fuck!" she cursed, putting a hand to her mouth. Her lower lip was bleeding like it was busted open with a sucker punch.

"You taste pretty good for some Chinese whore," the newcomer said with a smirk. He licked the remaining blood off of his lips.

"He bit me! This mother fucker actually bit me!" she said in disbelief. "Kick his ass!" she ordered her brute of a boyfriend.

"Shut the fuck up, bitch!" the drunk said angrily and backhanded her on the face.

She recovered from the all to familiar attack quickly and stormed away. "See if you get any, asshole!" she said over her shoulder. Not really concerned over his girlfriend, the brute just eyed the newcomer.

"You got some nerve, asshole!" the brute said, causing the crowd that had formed around them since the girl kissed the newcomer to egg him on.

"What are you talking about, friend?" the baby-face answered slyly. "The lady all but asked for it. I mean, if I were in your position, I would have taught her a lesson as well for cheating on me in front of my face as you clearly did."

The brute thought over what he said but decided he was too drunk to think. There was a cocky asshole in front of him that needed a beating. The energized shouts of "Kick his ass!" and "Teach the mother fucker a lesson!" only added fuel to his fire, since the leader of the gang always had to live up to his name or his underlings would take his place without hesitation.

"Fucker, don't touch my girl!" the brute said angrily and threw the stool on his other side at the newcomer. The newcomer moved out of his seat just as the stool was about to smash his face in. The crowd of drunk, angry cohorts made a large ring for the anticipated clobbering whilst the club owner frantically tried to call the police.

"Is that all you think about?" the newcomer said angrily. "Bitches are bitches. All they're good for is fucking. But if you get too close to them, they'll just fuck you over!" he said bitterly. The drunk got out of his seat and went into a sloppy offensive position. He made a few jabs, but he was too slow and drunk to hit his target. The 'victim' had a certain glint in his eye as he moved to the right of the drunk, too quickly for even the crowd to follow. By now, the club owner had shut off the music and ran away before he could be hurt. The yells and shouts of the mob were all that could be heard in the club, but one sound resounded through the cacophony; the sickening crack of the attacker's cranium as the newcomer's metal bat made an imprint in it.

The crowd hushed in harmony, awestruck by what had just happened. The drunk's eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness and unceremoniously fell on his knees, then flat on his face. The crowd stayed hushed as they saw their invincible leader become downed by a baby-faced newcomer with a metal bat. The winner of the fight prodded the downed hulk with his boots to see if he had anything left in him and smiled smugly when he got no response.

The crowd exploded because of the act of disrespect. The sounds of daggers being unsheathed, guns being cocked and bottles being broken surrounded the winner, as the ring shifted to form a semicircle with a wall on his back. Completely surrounded, and with no way to escape, the newcomer did what any other person would do in his position.

The bat clattered on the floor as he let it go and cracked his knuckles. "Bring it on, bitches…" the newcomer said with dark eyes, becoming even darker as his eyes dilated.

Yurislovak was really getting impatient now. Sure, Keitaro must have been making progress since he saw some Chinese lady storming off and some Hispanic guy fleeing, but it had become quiet for far too long. He shut off the bike and quickly walked over to the club. There were no noises coming out, so maybe Keitaro had actually beat up all of them already?

_No way he could take on fifty fucking Yakuza _that _quickly! _he thought. _Just_ as he was about to open the door, the thunderous sounds of 9mms, Ak's, and sub-machineguns chattered away. Yurislovak jumped away, cowering against the outside wall until the noises stopped.

_Holy SHIT!_ he thought. Just as he was about to hightail it out of there and leave his partner in crime fighting for dead, multiple screams of agony pierced through the cold, dark night and was then followed by a large number of 'thuds.' Yurislovak stood there, partially paralyzed from fear and partially drawn to the club because of curiosity of what had happened in there, but his trance was broken when Keitaro casually walked out of the club with Yurislovak's American bat slung over his shoulder. It had a large dent towards the tip and blood was trailing down from it. He held his surprisingly clean helmet in the other arm's hand.

Yurislovak just stared at him as he casually walked up to him. As if he didn't care that he had just clobbered a legion's worth of Yakuza.

"I told you to keep the bike running for when the cops would come," Keitaro said with a slight frown on his face. As if on cue, the sirens of the local authorities could be heard wailing closer and closer.

"But you… and them… and Holy SHIT!" the Russian said with wonder. The two quickly got back on their ride and sped away.

(O)

Su had been acting weird all day. She wasn't acting as hyper as she usually did. Even after Keitaro had said he would no longer be among the ranks in the Hinata-sou, her energy came back just as quickly as it had left and she had been harassing Motoko and Kitsune ever since. Right now, she was watching the news, instead of mindless cartoons like Ed, Edd and Eddy, Spongebob Squarepants, or Puffy Amy Yumi. Naru was on the couch doing some schoolwork.

"…string of incidents in which alleged Yakuza members have been found beaten and left for dead have occurred from Kanagawa to Tokyo," the reported said emotionlessly, though she probably was jumping for joy on the inside from the way her eyes shimmered. "Miraculously, there have been no deaths, though many have permanent injuries and most have been found in a comatose state. The chief of police had this to say about the recent violence." The TV switched to a press conference that the police had earlier that day. He was standing on a podium somewhere in city hall.

"These acts of vigilantism cannot go unstopped. We believe in the philosophy of 'innocent before proven guilty' at least us Americans do… in most cases. I dunno bout the Japanese and these people are also protected under it. I don't know who's doing it, or why they are using such excessive force and taking down so many people, but they must stop. Vigalantism will only lead to lynching, riots and mobs and ultimately, anarchy. We are a civilized people and we will persevere to treat our people accordingly." The screen went back to the reported, her frown disappearing just as she was on again.

"The police ask anyone who had witnessed these incidents to please speak up and call their crime hotline, 1800-HELP-4-ME. In other news, commuters were shocked to find a burning car on the freeway just nearby the exit for Tokyo…"

Su clicked off the TV and ran to her room like a monkey. Animals could detect danger before it came, and her monkey sense was on the fritz. Naru just looked at her for a moment and went back to her studies.

The door rang.

No one went to get it. After another ring, Naru got festered that no one was moving and went to answer the door. She was surprised to find… Amalla-san and her pet albino alligator. Su's older sister (I think) just had a cheerful smile on her face and suitcases in her hands.

"Naru-san, long time no see," she said cheerfully.

"Um… how'd you get so big all of a sudden Su?" she asked in shock. Amalla laughed.

"You don't remember me?" Naru shook her head. "Remember when Su became older because of the red moon?" After a few moments of thinking, she realized who it was.

"Oh! Amalla-san! How have you been?" she asked, inviting her in.

"I've been well," she said, then suddenly fired, "Where's Keitaro?"

"He's not here…" Naru said hesitantly.

"Oh…" she said disappointed. "I'm kinda tired from the trip, so which room do I go in?" she asked. Naru had no idea. It was Keitaro's job and he had been missing ever since _that_ day. And his replacement had failed to show up. It was well over a week into the school year and Naru was making quite a reputation for herself. Mutsumi was also becoming famous, being especially popular with the upper classmen, which was understandable since she was in their age group. And to everyone's shock, Kentaro had also gotten in and was constantly courting Naru. _Focus Naru!_ she thought to herself.

"I'm sure that we have a spare room somewhere," Naru said and led her toward the rooms. She found a vacant room near her sister Su and then parted. Moments later, she could hear strange noises coming from Amalla's direction. She paid it no mind and went back to her studies.

"Naru-sempai, who was that?" Motoko asked, taking a break from her training. He sat next to the college student.

"It was Amalla-san," Naru said offhandly.

"_Her…_" she said, remembering her fighting abilities. "I should have a match with her," she said and got up. "Where is she presently?" she asked.

"Next to Su's room," Naru said, not taking her eyes off her book.

"Thank you," she said and headed for that direction.

Moments later, Kitsune, Mutsumi and Shinobu came in, each with grocery bags. They all said their hi's and headed to the kitchen to stock everything, though Kitsune headed to her room to stash her fresh sake.

"Oh yeah," she said before they all left. "We have a guest. Su's sister's here."

"What?" they said in unison.

"Why is Amalla-san here?" Shinobu asked.

"Uh…" Naru smacked her head when she realized that she had completely forgotten to ask. "I forgot to ask…"

They all turned to the stairs, where Amalla was running down with Tama in her hands, Su in hot pursuit with a teary face.

"But I was gonna finally eat Tama!" she whined.

"This turtle is not food!!!"

"But…"

"No!" she said and hid behind Mutsumi. Motoko flipped down the stairs, her eyes swirling. Everyone else deadpanned…

"Amalla-san, I completely forgot to ask why you came to visit?" Naru asked, standing up.

"Didn't Keitaro tell you?" she asked confused.

"Tell us what?" Mutsumi asked. She looked at all of their faces and realized that they had no idea.

"Well, I'm the new manager," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh," Naru said, thinking she'd have given them news about Keitaro.

"NANI?!" they all said when the Mol Molian's words sunk in. Motoko was still knocked out.

(O)

Since her arrival to Japan, Akira had been given so many jobs, that they seemed to pile up to her neck. She had gotten through about half of them that month, but they seemed to keep on piling up.

_Dammit! Why can't they just kill people the good old fashion way!_ she thought, frustrated. Her hits took careful, calculated planning and when she was done, there was never enough evidence left to charge either she or the Yakuza with, let alone hold a burial. She got another call.

"Kami, who can this be?" she said to herself after seeing that the number was unknown to her cell phone. "Moshi moshi?" she asked automatically.

"It's been a while since we've spoken, Akira," an amused feminine voice said on the other side.

"Sakura…" she said, accusingly. "What do you want?" The two had been rivals ever since the 'princess' had joined Azuka's gang. Akira had been in love with the older male since he picked her up from the street when she was a young, homeless girl. He taught her all she knew and she trained with the burning passion of a thousand suns to prove to him that she was worthy. But that arrogant bitch just came in one day and ruined it by purposely flirting with him, _just_ to get on her nerves. It almost came to the point that she had held her at gunpoint, but Azuka stopped her and essentially kicked her out. Ever since, she hated the girl with a passion and was waiting listlessly for the day she could take vengeance on her for stealing her first and only love.

"It's been some time since the gang's been together. Why don't you meet up with us?"

"Really?" she asked with visible eagerness. "Uh… I mean, where and when?" Sakura laughed.

"Meet us at my house," she answered.

"When would be a good time?" Akira asked. "I know that Azuka and the others are really busy around this time of year." _Kami knows I am!_

"Anytime is good…" she said, and then as if she were holding something back, "We're on an… indefinite break…"

"Really?" Akira asked, not really caring about undertones. "Can I come by around six tomorrow? I just need to finish a… job tomorrow morning," she said carefully, knowing her phone was bugged.

"That's perfect!" Sakura said in shallow happiness. "I'll see you tomorrow then!"

"That's great!" Akira said, voice dripping with anticipation.

"Oh, and one more thing," Sakura said as Akira was going to hang up.

"Yes?"

"Azuka is _really_ looking forward to seeing you again…" Sakura said, and hung up.

Words couldn't describe how Akira felt at that moment in time. Her heart was a flutter and her face a nice shade of crimson. _Sempai wants to see _me She suddenly started giggling like a schoolgirl.

Back at her house, Sakura hung up her phone with a smug look on her face. She reached in her pocket and stared at the face that the surveillance photo held. It was Keitaro.

(O)

He ran.

He ran and ran until he could run no more.

What he had seen only minutes before came back to his head.

And he kept on running.

He stopped next to a large tree, using his arm to lean his weight against it. If he had run anymore, he would have collapsed and they would have eventually caught him. While he was still conscious, he could still try to hide from them.

-

(Flash back)

They were all wasted from the night before. They had partied till the sun came up and partied some more. When he woke up, he found people sprawled all over the place. _Kaijjin's gonna be pissed that we trashed his place, but he's our bitch…_ the generic goon thought. _Why am I awake again?_ he suddenly questioned when he looked at the clock. He'd only slept for five hours. He could hear the loud thundering of an engine coming towards the secluded lodging. He looked out of one of the Cabin's windows and saw a bike with two riders heading right for them.

"Assholes," he said under his breath and moved to go outside and yell at them for being so loud and waking him up. But he stopped and looked out the window again for some reason. The driver pulled up to the house and looked at it. The passenger behind him said something while pointing at him and they sped away. He was about to go back to sleep, thinking that the assholes had just come to the wrong place, but he could hear the bike revving. He looked back and saw them gunning it towards the Cabin. After they sped past braking distance, he realized that they weren't planning on stopping. They planned on crashing into the Cabin- through the window he was staring out of.

"FUCK!" he screamed as he jumped away. Someone told him to 'shut the fuck up,' but stopped mid-sentence when the sound of the window shattering and engine blaring broke his trail of thought.

The bikers had miraculously stopped without crashing into a wall. They got off, the driver brandishing a dented, bloodied bat, while the other was unarmed, though he was cracking his knuckles.

Almost everyone else was still asleep.

They didn't stand a chance.

-

He was running again. He could hear the sound of the bike coming closer and closer. He tried, willed himself to not look back. He knew it would only slow him down and scare the remaining shit out of him.

But he finally gave in. The bike just sounded too close. He turned his head. The last thing he remembered was something metallic.

(O)

It was finally six o'clock the next day and Akira couldn't wait to see the smile on her sempai's face. She wore a cute western-style dress that Luciana had given to her before she left America. She had gotten so nervous over the encounter, she had been sloppy on her job that morning, but luckily, the target's car was full of NOS. Downtown Tokyo had seen a beautiful blue bonfire off of the freeway early that morning…

She just realized that she was also holding a bouquet. _Idiot! It's the other way around!_ she scolded herself. She was about to throw it away, but she had already rung the bell and Sakura held the door open, a beaming smile on her face.

"Akira! I haven't seen you for ages," she said 'happily,' and moved to give her a tight hug. She let go and commented to the seventeen-year-old, "You've gotten so much prettier!"

"You too!" she answered back in feigned excitement. "So, where is he- they?" she asked, unable to hide her impatience.

"Still cut straight to the point, ne?" Sakura said, smirking. "You haven't changed at all!" she laughed and led her to the house. She took her to the waiting room and sat down. "They'll be ready really soon," Sakura explained.

"Boys will be boys," Akira said and the two made idle chitchat. During this conversation, however, Akira felt that she was being probed. But that didn't surprise her; the only reason Azuka allowed Sakura to join his gang in the first place was because she had an intrinsic ability to tap information from people or manipulate them. Though she wasn't as formidable as Akira on the street, she was as dangerous as they could get.

"They're ready," a servant said to Sakura. They both got up and Akira impatiently followed her to the guys' room. She could tell that Sakura was still probing her as they walked to their room, but she didn't care. _I'm finally gonna see sempai!_ she thought blissfully. They walked to a room that had a sign, 'reserved,' on it and Sakura went to reach for the handle. As Sakura opened their door for Akira, she could hear beeping noises coming from inside. _Figures that all they'd do on a break is play video games_, Akira thought. Akira walked in, followed by Sakura. She expected Azuka to be kicking Nanise's ass while Haru cheered for both of them.

"Sempai, Nanise, Haru! Its me-" she started saying joyously, but froze. The bouquet in her hand dropped as she took in what was before her.

They weren't playing video games.

Azuka, Nanise, and Haru were all in hospital beds, life support systems standing by, watching their vitals ever so closely. Haru's head was completely bandaged up, while the rest of him seemed fine. Nanise's head was covered up just as well, but much thicker, especially in the back. His shoulder was on a sling, while his blade, Hell Spawn, was placed in his good hand.

The last sight all but made her cry. Azuka lay on his bed, a cast around his neck and bandages wrapped around his naked abdomen. Akira was brought down to her knees.

"W-what happened?" she said, still not sure if this was a joke or not. If it was, she swore she's put them in that state for real. "W-who could do this to them?" It was just impossible. Azuka's gang was the best of the best. No group could even begin to rival the cluster that they formed.

Sakura had a smug look on her face. _Everything is going just a I planned_, she thought and reached into her pocket. She took out the picture that she had all but memorized and threw it to Akira like a ninja star. Akira grabbed it midair without even looking back.

"He's the only one," Sakura said, leaving the room to give the young woman privacy so she could mourn. "Everything you need to know to know is on the back," she finished and closed the door. Akira looked down at the photo, her tears making puddles on it. She turned it around and read his name, her hate overcoming her anguish for a moment. She balled her fists, crushing the picture in the process. She got up and went to Azuka's body, letting flow tears that would be held back no longer.

_I'll kill you, Urishima Keitaro. I'll kill you if IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!!!_

Her sobs could be heard echoing through the empty hallway.

Sakura locked the door to her room behind her. She knew her dad would be furious at her for showing Akira what had happened to their former gang. The council had ordered everyone not to tell Akira the news for fear that she would seek retribution and become lost in the process. They had already lost two of their best warriors, Azuka and Xiao-Mei, to Keitaro. He even scared away the hired mercenary, Ayame, from the Black Stars. But if her plans went the way she wanted them to go, she would have more power then she would ever have with the Yakuza alone.

And it would all start with Akira. It was a very nice plan in that she would get what she wanted and get rid of the annoying bitch in the process. She turned her lights off and unlocked her closet. She warded off the darkness be lighting the many candles within, revealing a sex-doll with various things taped to it. The head was matted with hair glued-on hair and the digits taped with actual fingernail clippings. Where the face would have been, was a picture. After making some strange and cryptic chant, she pulled the pull down bed under the doll and placed it there. She took off her clothes and mounted it, moving her face to its.

_Keitaro…_ she thought, moving up and down.

(-O-)

I'm guessing some ppl may be wondering why fan fiction says this is chapter 7 instead of ten. Well, I have 'seen the light' and I know where this and its mother story are going, and I changed its structure to fit the theme. I've released this chapter earlier than expected because I wanted to see if there was still this weird glitch in the story. Can some people go to chapter 4 (listed as 1 from the menu) and email or review to me which chapter it shows? Thanks…

Update: No, it wasn't me. ff net just hates me. I've been pulling my hair trying to get it correct, andI thinkI found something suitable. Sorry for the confusing chapter numbering...

TSTBTPB Update: I've been making a lot of progress with it, though it may be a while before I can release the next update, cause of the way the story works…

Remember; click the 'Go' button on your way out. (Flames are still understandable and especially welcome if critical)

Cheers! : )


	8. Street Battle

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Eleven:** Street Battle

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

**Disclaimer: **_See Chapter Four_

I don't know if people will understand what I'm talking about when I say series of hairpin curves, but if you saw the episode in Initial D where the opponent had a 4WD car with the engine at the center, you'll know what I mean. (The opponent is the son of the hero's dad's old rival)

I got into dean's list last semester! Boo yah!

I watched Napolean Dynamite… I feel dumber…

(-O-)

"The Supreme Court was shocked to find incontrovertible proof that Chief of Police Zenigata had connections with the Yakuza, going back as early as when he was a fresh officer in the 80's. Zentigata was arrested earlier this afternoon, but made no comment. Lawyers say that this is one of the biggest scandals since Godzilla attacked Tokyo. The government would not release what the proof was, but only said that it was submitted anonymously after the chief's press conference against the recent violence against Yakuza suspects."

"Naru! He's here!" Kitsune yelled, bringing said girl out of her reverie. She hadn't talked to Keitaro since the incident and it was all that she could really think over. Naru got up to meet the person waiting outside.

"I see someone's popular…" Kitsune said in an insinuation tone of voice.

"It's not like that!" Naru exclaimed as she left to meet 'him.'

-

Kentaro had invited Naru to a street race that was going to happen later that night. She was resistant at first, but gave in when she found out that most of her classmates and friends were going. So there she was, on the sidelines as the racers showed off their cars and engines. There were three cars, each with their own custom decals and bodyworks. Kentaro explained to her that the intimidating red car was a Dodge Viper, the energetic hot-orange car was a Honda Civic and the anxious sounding blue car was something called a Miata. The race really wouldn't start for some time, so the crowds were surrounding the racers, marveling at the technology that they each loaded.

Minutes before the race, the illegal street race's directors made everyone leave the streets. The racers came out of their cars to give their engines a final check-up. The Viper's driver was a scrawny little white gaijjin that seemed very nervous. He was basically jumping all over his car, making sure nothing was wrong with it. The Civic's driver was someone Naru recognized as a senior in Todai. He was probably at peak physical condition and made a lot of the girls there go into a frenzy. He went through his car casually, waved to the girls and went back into his car, patiently waiting for the race to begin.

"What the big deal with him?" Naru said, pointing out the Civic's driver.

"That's Taisho, a senior at Todai," Kentaro said. "He's an electrical engineer, and his skills are famous throughout this region. Of all the races I've seen him in, he hasn't lost a single one."

"Wow…" Naru said, gaining respect for him.

The last person wasn't that cool. In fact, he was an overweight person with big thick glasses that everyone seemed to be booing. He tried to ignore everyone while he went through the final check-up.

"Why's everyone being so mean to him?" Naru asked, speaking of the Miata's driver.

"That's Kenshin, the biggest loser ever," Kentaro said, angrily. "He tried to rape a girl that felt sorry for him after he lost a race. Bastard!" he yelled the last word with his hands cupped around his mouth to direct more of the sound energy to his ears. He spit on the ground in his direction as an unseen insult.

"Damn perverts…" Naru said to herself and started booing the fatty too.

The drivers had all gotten into their cars and revved their engines some more. The crowd buzzed with anticipation since the race was almost ready to begin.

A sudden commotion began with the arrival of an uninvited guest. A black car suddenly pulled up into the empty spot next to the Viper. What was strange was that there was a gaiijin on its roof on all fours, hands holding onto its open moon roof. He jumped off and started talking to one of the coordinators, whom had angrily stormed up to him because of the intrusion. They spoke for a while and the gaiijin whispered something into his ear. The coordinator looked like he was debating something and left. The gaiijin gave two thumbs up to the black car's driver and ran into the crowd of spectators.

"What just happened?" Naru asked.

"That was just Yuri, a junior electrical engineer at Todai too," Kentaro explained. "He's this rich Russian kid that everyone seems to hate. He must have had some dirt on Kaijjin if he would let them enter all of a sudden so easily."

"Oh…" Naru said, not really caring anymore. She was suddenly anticipant over the race.

The black car was in fact an RX-8, the newest generation of one of the only rotary engine type vehicles ready for general consumption. Like the other cars, it was heavily customized. Its decals were green pictures of flames starting from the engines and sides and narrowing off towards the rear. It had very low suspension, leaving the car just centimeters from the ground. Its rims looked very unusual; they just seemed to just keep on moving while the car was still immobile. Its windows were tinted black and it was impossible to see the driver inside. It also sported fluctuating neon lights (unlike the static ones that the other three had) that were a matching green color. The car suddenly started to vibrate as the person inside turned on a heavy metal station, letting loose his powerful subwoofers. Even from where she was standing, Naru could feel her innards move with its beat.

One of the many scantily dressed women went up to the road. She stood there, waiting for the drivers' attention with her arms high in the air. Each of the cars started burning out for that extra boost that would help in the beginning of the race. Basically, their forward or rear set of tires would stay braked while the other set that got power from the crank shaft would start spinning, rubbing against the asphalt and filling the street with the smell of burning rubber. With a confirming nod from the sponsor of the race, the girl let her arms fall and the cars screamed past her.

"Wow!" Naru said in awe. "They're going so fast!" By the time she finished her sentence, the drivers were nowhere to be seen. "So now what… do we just wait for them to come back?" she asked disappointedly.

"Well, we can be like these commoners and hear what's going on from the checkpoints, but I have something better." He made a cell phone call and helicopter landed on the street a few minutes later. Naru just stood in awe. _I wish I were that rich…_

"Shall we?" Kentaro asked, walking up to the aircraft. Naru followed him in. Moments later, they were in the air and they could see the cars battling it out at mind blowing speeds.

At the point that they were seeing the race, the Civic had a decent lead, with the Miata close behind. The Viper was in third and was trying to keep the RX-8 from overtaking it. They were on an easy turn and the RX-8 tried to overtake the Viper from the inside, but he went and tried to block him. Unfortunately, since he was coming in from the outside, his relative distance from the RX-8 decreased and the back left corner of his bumper hit the front right bumper of the RX-8. The RX-8 took it as an attack and pushed against his bumper, causing him to spin out of control. The RX-8 managed to pass him just as the Viper crashed into a guardrail.

"Oh my God, is he okay?" Naru said, holding onto Kentaro out of fear.

Kentaro, obviously enjoying the contact just replied, "He'll make it out fine…" As a courtesy, however, he called Kaijjin and told him about the crash. Someone would go out there and clean up the mess so that the second and final heat happened without any problems.

Going back to the race, the three surviving racers were now on an uphill climb and the Miata was clearly winning. Having much more power than the Civic, he just overtook it without any hassle. The RX-8, however was quickly catching up, since it had a higher power-to-weight ration and was behind only because of the crash the Viper had. The uphill portion ended with a sharp downhill turn that the Miata didn't expect. It dramatically decreased speed in an effort to not crash, but left the inside way open, which the much more experienced Civic driver took advantage of and drifted past him. At the end of the turn, the Civic was in first, the Miata next and the RX-8 last. (Drifting is, usually, when your back wheels are skidding and giving you the force to not lose speed, while your front wheels keep you in the desired circle. This lets you take turns at a much faster speed without having to crash if you had done it normally. The cars back wheels push forward towards the center of the circle, while the front wheels point in the opposite direction of the turn. This does not seem to apply to 4WD, since its even power distribution lets it take the same turns easily the normal way. You can find out more with a quick search through Yahoo! or Google. Drifting is a cool spectator sport in Japan and I have some cool links and footage if you want to contact me.)

The next obstacle was a series of downhill hairpin-turns that led to another uphill climb. (Think of it as a series of long ramps next to each other with the lower end connected to the higher end of the next one with a tight turn, like a sin(3x)3 graph from 0 to 2pi.) All three of the drivers drastically slowed down so that they wouldn't crash into the walls surrounding the turns, but the RX-8's driver somehow managed to drift the turn, putting him right behind the Miata, their bumpers almost touching. For the rest of the hairpins it stayed like that, though the Civic held a car's length of a lead. All that changed, however, when they finished the hairpins and started another uphill climb. The Miata sped its way to first, while the Civic lagged behind and the RX-8 seemed to just go slowly for some reason. Maybe he never got a practice run in before, who knew?

At the end of the climb, the Miata held first while the Civic was lagging at second with the RX-8 breathing down its neck at third. What followed was a series of turns that snaked through the forest. All the cars drifted, though only the Civic and RX-8 managed to minimize their turn radii by just almost touching their front bumpers on the railing. They were forced to take a detour through some of the forest to stay in the circuit and they all struggled to keep their cars in control and not spin out of control due to the small amount of traction they had. When they broke the forest, all they had left was another turn, which they all drifted, a straightaway and a hairpin-turn till the end of the lap. During the straightaway, all three cars activated their NOS and burned rubber. Their tailpipes suddenly jetted blues flames behind them in their sudden increase in torque and caused them to dart forward even faster. One peculiarity was that the RX-8's exhaust flame was green instead of blue and Kentaro explained that he probably had some kind of coloring in it (after he explained how NOS burned way better then normal gas and gave a driver an edge for some time. However, since the NOS burned hotter, a driver could use it only for a short amount of time or their engine would blow.)

At the end of the straightway, the cars braked in order to not crash on the hairpin-turn, but the Miata was going way too fast and was way too heavy to slow down enough. The driver did his best to drift, but ended up skidding and clipping the guardrail. The other two had slowed down enough and drifted on the turn's inside and shot past the Miata. People at the finish line cheered since the hated driver was now at a great disadvantage.

They started the next and final heat with the Civic and RX-8 neck and neck and the Miata hopelessly behind. They shot past where the Viper had crashed, the wreckage long since removed and continued on in the first turn. Since they started off so much faster than in the first heat, all the cars drifted the first turn. The skills of the two leading cars shone when it could be seen that not only were they mere millimeters from the railing, they were only about forty centimeters apart. They exited the turn at a high speed and started the uphill. The RX-8 easily pulled ahead of the Civic, but didn't press his advantage and let the Civic stay close behind. The Miata, however, took advantage of the uphill and his car's power and used another shot of NOS, letting him get back into the race. Naru asked Kentaro about why he didn't save it for the straightway at the end and he replied that either he was really desperate or he had more than two shots of NOS in his car. All the cars slowed down again for the downhill turn at the end of the climb and drifted. The Miata had learned from his first mistake and pulled off the drift pretty well. The RX-8, however, seemingly goofed and ended up drifting on the outside of the turn, letting the Civic pull ahead easily. They all slowed down for the series of hairpins, but there was no change in place since the RX-8 didn't drift that time, probably still angry with the goof it had just done.

On the last hairpin, the RX-8 did the most unexpected thing. It completely stopped at the first half of the turn and turned around on its front two wheels in a burnout. It seemed to be pointing completely opposite of the way it was supposed to go, and the Miata looked like it was about to crash into it. To everyone's surprise, however, the RX-8 peeled out and jumped past the elbow heading the right direction. In fact, he actually jumped _over_ and past the Civic, covering the street in a shower of sparks as his already low body scraped the asphalt. The other two drivers were no doubt stunned at the crazy maneuver, but they didn't falter… much.

The uphill climb that followed wasn't that eventful, since the RX-8 just kept pulling ahead while the Civic struggled to keep the Miata from overtaking it. The Civic and Miata closed the distance with the RX-8 during the turns that followed, since the RX-8 decided not to drift. During the detour through the forest, the other two cars had finally caught up to the RX-8. They all drifted the last turn before the straightway and all ignited their NOS the instant they were stabilized. The RX-8 and Miata suddenly left the Civic eating dust since its engine was much weaker then the other two's and the race was miraculously between the fatty and the new guy.

Somewhere in the middle of the straightway, the Miata's engine blew and the RX-8 pulled past. Though they were going to brake a few milliseconds later anyway, the sudden loss of power was all it took for the RX-8 to be assured the win. They shot past the hairpin turn and braked after crossing the finish line. Unfortunately for the Miata, its tires were shot, and its engine was cooking. The driver was lucky that it didn't explode on him, but he had a more important matter: his tires had almost no traction left after all of the abuse and he was now spinning out of control. With unbelievable luck, however, he stopped just before he crashed and no one got hurt. A girl suddenly ran out of the crowd and forced his door open, assisting him out.

"What the hell?" Kentaro said, confused.

"What?" Naru asked, not sure what he was angry about. The RX-8 had won fair and square. Actually, the Civic finally crossed the finish line and a bunch of girls went up to its driver to 'console' him for his loss. (Hey, he was still built…)

"That's the girl he was supposed to have raped…" Kentaro said, referring to the girl that had helped the Miata's driver out of his car. He was now sitting down on the ground, probably crying inside the girl's chest as she tried to calm him down. "Maybe he really was telling us the truth…" he said in contemplation.

The helicopter had landed and the two college kids went to try and see if they could congratulate the winner. However, only Yuri was there talking to everyone, since the driver inside didn't look like he was going to leave. Naru could still feel the powerful sub-woofers doing their job even though the car was completely sealed off. Yuri was jumping around in joy as he collected the winnings that the RX-8's driver had won. The passenger window opened, letting the music blast and shake everyone's bones, and the driver probably told something to Yuri. Yuri stopped his jumping around and climbed to the RX-8's roof again, seeming to be looking for something. He scanned the masses until he locked eyes with Naru. He jumped off the car Su-like and ran up to her.

"I have a message from the guy in there," he said to her, huffing and puffing.

"Me?" Naru said, looking around.

"Yeah," he said, almost stable.

"So…"

"He wanted me to tell you that he still hates you," he said, glaring at her as if he felt the same as the driver. Before she could say anything, the RX-8's headlight's blinked and the Russian ran to the car and jumped into the open passenger side window. The crowd around the car made room as he pulled away, Yuri's legs still sticking out.

"What was that about?" Kentaro asked. Not answering, she tried to figure out who the RX-8's driver was.

"No way…" she said when it clicked.

(-O-)

I know, I know… I haven't updated in almost a month… unfortunately for me, I don't have any excuses this time cause I've been goofing off alla this time… BUT I STILL MADE DEAN'S LIST, SO I feel good about myself.

Remember; click the 'Go' button on your way out. (Flames are still understandable and especially welcome if critical)

Cheers: )


	9. Her Decision

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Twelve:** Her Decision

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

**Disclaimer: **_See Chapter Four_

One clarification that may help people a little; whenever I imagine Sakura, I imagine Leena from Zoids.

This chapter borrows a scene from chapter two (you can find it in The Straw That Broke The Pervert's Back), so it may be worthwhile to read it again to compare it to what happens this chapter. (that chapter is relatively short too…)

A few notes at the end of the chapter to explain a few things. Feel free to ignore them.

(-O-)

Taisho still could not believe that he had lost. How could he have actually lost to that fatso Kenshin? And what made it even harder to believe was that the person that had won the race was this short little freshman that hung out with that loser, Yuri. Taisho just could not let it stand like that.

_I can't challenge him for a rematch, though,_ he thought. _That would only prove that he's a worthy racer and that that night wasn't a fluke._

That was the only conclusion Taisho could come up with after a week of losing sleep to the loss. It had gotten to the point where he started dosing off while trying to finish modeling the map he would need for the high performance engine that he was making for his senior project, and he couldn't afford nodding off now because his deadlines were getting closer and closer. He'd been known for his solid work all throughout his life, even though he also lived life on the edge. He was _not_ going to let a defeat (_no, fluke_) by some freshman ruin his chances at getting into that spot he had curried the favor of the Mitsubishi recruiter for the high performance department. _The only way to cream him and get rid of this impasse is to beat him at something else, something he doesn't stand a chance in against me._

What that something would be, he had to figure out, and figure out fast. He had given his bane a letter in which he had politely asked him to meet with him when the last class of the day was over for him. Keitaro had never replied to it, but Taisho went to meet with him anyway. _It make me look like I'm begging him for it,_ he grimaced in afterthought. _But it doesn't matter. If I don't get out of this funk, and soon, I won't be able to make my deadline._

He anxiously waited by the lecture hall's entrance while students passed by, until Keitaro stepped out. Taisho walked next to Keitaro and turned on the charm.

"So, Keitaro. I hope you received my letter?"

"Yeah," Keitaro said, not really paying him any attention. It was apparent he was making a beeline for the freshman parking lot.

_All the better,_ Taisho thought. _Then no one important will see this_. Taisho did his best to word what he was about to say carefully.

"I was hoping you'd wanna play some pool later today," Taisho said, trying his best not to sound like he was pleading to him.

"Not really," Keitaro said, his face getting colder, as if he was thinking of something horrible. "I need to go to the hospital today."

"Hospital?" Taisho said in surprise. _Not good… _he thought in alarm. _I can't let this sit and wait._

"Why don't you suck my dick?" Keitaro said, glaring daggers at him. That made Taisho stop, his face twisting with anger. "You lost, so what? I don't give a crap. You want your dick back, right? Well, not interested. There's nothing in it for me. So if you'll excuse me," he said, not really waiting to be excused, "I have a hospital to get to."

_The arrogance of this little shit!_ Taisho thought, nostrils flaring. He grabbed onto the puny freshman's arm, holding him still so he could give him a piece of his mind.

"What the hell," Keitaro said while being forced to turn back to look at him.

"Who the hell do you think you are, you little shit?" Taisho said. He shoved Keitaro hard enough to knock him down onto his ass. "Just cause you beat me once, you think you're all that?"

"You know what?" Keitaro said in a severely annoyed tone. "Fuck you. If you want your dick back so bad, why don't you race me to the hospital?"

"Fine," said Taisho, realizing he was validating this nothing's existence as a racer by having a rematch. _But you know what? Fuck it. My rep will be useless in a few months anyway._

"But if you lose," Keitaro said with a steely glare, "you're my bitch."

That took Taisho by surprise and he did his best to get rid of the look of horror on his face. _Calm down. It's not gonna be that bad. You're a better driver, you're gonna win this._

"Whatever," Taisho said a moment later, waving it off like it was nothing. He moved to leave the freshman parking lot so he could get to his car.

"Meet me at the school entrance. We go when the light hits green," Keitaro declared, sounding like every second he was delayed was that much more of an inconvenience.

Minutes later, Taisho was at the prescribed starting point. Not surprisingly, his fan base had gotten wind of the race and was there to cheer him on. It took balls to race during the day, no matter how experienced you were. There were also other cars parked on the sides, ready to tail them and monitor the race in real time and if need be, keep the cops away from them.

The only surprise was Keitaro and his car. He didn't look nervous at all; as if he was just getting ready for a normal drive to the hospital, though there was a glint of… something in his eye. His choice of car had taken a complete 180. Gone was the muscle of his RX-8, replaced by the grace and agility of a Lotus Elise. The car had a stock engine of only 190hp, but was so light and aerodynamic, it could go from 0-60mph in less than five seconds. And since it was so light, it would corner better than him since his Civic's tires had more mass to shove on a turn than Keitaro's Elise would. _And what's worse is the crazy crap that can happen to it after it has some after-market gear installed,_ Taisho thought worriedly. Keitaro didn't change the appearance of his car in any way, but Taisho could tell that his engine didn't purr like a normal 190hp engine would.

The light for the road perpendicular to their road was changing signals, so Taisho started burning out. To his annoyance, he found that Keitaro had beaten him to the punch. Seconds later, both of them rocketed part the intersection, Keitaro narrowly missing a car that ran the red light. To Taisho's pleasure, he was in the lead, but the Elise suddenly pulled up and shot past him. Taisho wasn't brash enough to try and catch up. This was city racing, and you can't keep your speed up at all times.

There weren't any checkpoints for the race, hence the necessity of the trailers, so the two didn't necessarily have to follow the same path. Taisho decided to take the expressway. Though it was longer, he could travel at a high rate of speed to make up for the distance. Besides, there was much less thinking involved this way, and gave him more time on concentrating on how to beat Keitaro to the finish. He expected Keitaro to come to the same conclusion, but the amateur decided to take the shorter route.

_Fool. If you stay in the city, you constantly have to stop. You're making this too easy,_ Taisho thought. But that was Keitaro's choice and going on the expressway was Taisho's. He got on the expressway a few moments later and accelerated to 220mph, leaving the less skilled trailers in his dust. Within minutes of weaving through traffic like silk gliding down air, he slowed down and took the exit that led to the hospital. He would have to go through a mile of suburbia before he was sure he had enough of a lead to not have to worry about losing.

_Still no signs of a racer being here yet…_ Taisho thought to himself after not seeing and black streaks on the road ahead of him. _He's probably stuck in some traffic jam._

As if it were judgment day, Keitaro's Elise literally fell from the sky right next to Taisho, causing him to swerve in surprise. The Elise bounced on its shocks once or twice to dissipate the falling energy. There was mud all over the bottom and grass was all over his front bumper. There were scratches all over his side and he could swear that there was paint whipping up into the wind from the back. And all this he noticed from a cursory glance.

Taisho grinned. He remembered when he was young and pulled off the same stunt, though he wasn't sure if Keitaro used the same ramp he did to land next to his opponent. Crashing into an elephant (he was still dumbfounded as to how an elephant was strolling around in the streets of Japan…) had remedied such headstrongness, however.

TRUCK! his mind screamed. Taisho looked ahead and sure enough, there was a tractor-trailer going past the intersection ahead.

_If I'm fast enough… I can just make it through the bottom of the trailer,_ Taisho thought. He wondered what Keitaro was thinking. Mere seconds before they reached the intersection, they both braked, _hard._

_Nobody's stupid enough to do that._ Taisho sighed in relief; partly because Keitaro wasn't stupid enough to be road kill.

The truck would clear Taisho's side of the road first, so he had the advantage. They both burned out and Taisho bolted first. He advantage would have been short lived if he didn't swerve to the right onto the sidewalk at the last second because of oncoming traffic. (he was on the right side of a two-lane road) By the time he got back to the road, Keitaro had already pulled up, pushing his lead. They would have to make a right turn soon, so the only way to win would be if Taisho could force Keitaro on the outside of the turn.

He suddenly remembered that there would be people watching at the last few turns, since the trailers were long gone by now. Taisho grinned for the second time this race. He thought of something that he had seen one of his rivals do, back in the day, which would assure him victory. He pulled up to Keitaro, but slowed down so that Keitaro was ahead, but not by enough so that he could take the inside. As they reached the turn, Keitaro braked, as expected, but Taisho accelerated. Because of the sudden changes in speed, Taisho inevitably slammed into Keitaro, causing them to slide outside even more. For a split second, Taisho thought that that the chance he had taken was coming back to kick him in the ass, but there was the idiot he was expecting, his mouth opening like he was about to scream while the people around his car dived away at the last second. Keitaro's Elise slammed into the unsuspecting BMW and Taisho tore away, ensured the win. One more right and it was over.

He made the turn in a wide, lazy arc since he knew Keitaro had lost, but just as he was about to cross the finish line where people were cheering at him, Keitaro shot from the side, almost clipping someone in the face. Behind the Elise was a trail of vegetation that slacked him anyhow. Taisho slammed his brakes and stared at the carnage that was caused by the puny Elise. Black streaks smoked where moments ago, Keitaro was supposed to be incapacitated. The streaks made a sharp turn into the display made of foliage that used to decorate the hospital's entrance. The sign that welcomed new customers now had a hole in it in the shape of an Elise. Keitaro had stopped just scant centimeters in front of him. They got out and met each other; Keitaro with a strange grin, Taisho with a stoic face.

"That was an excellent race…" Taisho said as his fan base started piling in. "I haven't seen driving like that in a long time," he continued, trying to ignore the sounds of disbelief behind him. "It was a pleasure to race you." The crowd went silent. Keitaro chose that golden moment when everyone would hear him to say three words.

"Me too, bitch." The crowd leered at him for dissing their leader, but when Taisho wouldn't defend himself and just stare at the ground, some of his fans switched sides. As they went up to congratulate Keitaro, he shrugged them off and went back to his car. He parked near the hospital entrance and went in without another word.

Taisho stood still as a rock, staring at a point on the ground as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Some people tried to cheer him up, but only one thing kept playing in his mind over and over, like one of those old record players skipping at the end of the track.

_Bitch_

Taisho clenched his as he slammed the door of his car as he went in. The crowd slowly approached it, hoping to see their idol once more, but reeled back as his car honked suddenly. Paying no heed to the pedestrians around him, he angrily went back to Todai.

(O)

_I still don't know why I'm here…_ Keitaro thought as he scratched the back of his hand. _Stupid rash is getting annoying._ He walked past the receptionist who smiled at him, but her just scowled. He walked like someone with purpose and quickly made his way to the now familiar room.

Keitaro scoffed as he sat next to the trauma victim lying in the bed within. His victim. He knew he should have felt guilty. He should have been spilling his heart, begging the comatose victim for his forgiveness. Even though he didn't really remember this guy or how he'd done him in. Keitaro gave a long, annoyed sigh and scratched behind his hand some more.

"Koishi?" someone said. Keitaro snapped his head up in the direction of the coma patient that should have been a vegetable.

"You're here again, Koishi…" the idiot said, tears in his eyes.

"Yeah, Uuichi…" Keitaro grumbled with familiarity he didn't know he possessed. How the patient knew his new street name was beyond him. How the patient was _talking _was beyond him. (How he knew the patient's name was beyond him too…) All that he knew was that as long as the Yakuza knew of the movements of Urahara Koishi, as opposed to Urashima Keitaro, all the better. He had decided that he was bored of actively smiting them and they would stop 'harassing' him if he laid low for a while.

"You remembered my name, Master," Uuichi started, "I am sorry for my circumstances, but I will be ready to serve you in the near future."

That got Koishi/Keitaro by surprise. Thinking of nothing better to say, he said, "Just chill," and left the patient to himself. The strange event baffled Keitaro as he made his way back to the Elise he remembered that he had jacked from the strange Yakuza the other day. He was also confused as to why he had met him in the hospital at all. It's not like he knew him or anything. He just felt compelled to go to his room the day after he smacked him up.

"I don't care," Keitaro said, the urge for 'personal time' getting more and more urgent. He drove to the red light district and went into a booth. He came out a few minutes later, looking relieved. He held in his hand a set of sticker photos of him alone. Satisfied, he drove to his new home, Yuri's house.

"Tadaima," Keitaro said wearily and took his shoes off. He walked to the living room, thinking he'd watch some TV, but was delighted to find Yuri with his hands across his chest, a scowl on his face. Keitaro blinked in surprise. He was sure he'd laugh when he saw the dirty picture he had taken of him from the last time they got drunk.

"You have some visitors," Yuri said, motioning to the couch. Keitaro looked and saw a trio of Yakuza sitting there, playing some video game, and laughing jovially. When they realized that Keitaro was in the room, they stood at attention, no even bothering to pause.

"Good evening Master, how may we serve you?" the one in the middle said. He was flanked by a built giant that seemed stoic and a shorter sword carrying one that seemed ready to slash at anything in his way.

Keitaro blinked again. He knew what was going on. The Yakuza must have had some rule that if someone defeated you, you were obligated to serve them. (He didn't know what, but something in the back of his head nipped at him when he thought of that)

"I don't really have orders for you guys. Do whatever you want for now, just as long as you don't bother Yuri too much. Jerk off for all I care," Keitaro said, walking to his room. As he got further away, he chuckled when he heard Yuri shriek, "NOT THERE!"

Keitaro suddenly felt exhausted when he went to his room. _That race must have taken a lot more out of me than I thought,_ Keitaro thought as he collapsed on his bed. He scratched his itchy hand as sleep overcame him, and before he knew it, the darkness surrounded him once more.

(O)

"This is an outrage!" a short old man by the name Reyega said angrily, slamming his fist onto the corporate sized table. Most people would see him as no threat, but had anyone tried to bother the old man, they would soon find out that they were wrong. Dead wrong.

"Drug deals have plummeted and you want to take more dealers and use them as soldiers? That will destroy the fabric of our existence!" he continued in a wheezing voice.

"What can we do?" said a younger, colder and much calmer voice. "That damn Urashima takes our soldiers out one by one, as if they were weeds. It's gotten so bad that our rivals are not even taking advantage of our predicament. And with Akira recruiting our best soldiers left and right, what other choice do we have? The dealers are too scared to go out undefended. They know that everyone that's been attacked by the Urashima is now a vegetable. Furthermore, many people that we collect protection money aren't taking us seriously anymore."

"I've also been hearing some disturbing rumors," a middle aged man with a balding head said. Everyone turned to the usually quiet Lord to pay attention. "My soldiers have told me that a lot of the Yakuza that that cursed Urashima put to rest have been waking up."

The Lords opened their eyes in delights, thinking that their overwhelming shortage of soldiers would be one less headache they'd have to deal with.

"So how is this news disturbing?" said the most elderly Lord in the Council. No one knew his real name, but everyone called him Sensei due to his connections with the schools of martial arts. "This seems like news that we can rejoice to." The other Lords expressed their agreement with solemn nods.

"That wasn't the disturbing part, at least not the most disturbing part," the middle aged man said, holding the attention of the Lords' once again. "My sources tell me that when they wake up, they immediately pledge their loyalty to someone named Koishi Urahara."

The Lords stayed silent, seeing if he had any more grave news. After collecting himself, the middle-aged man dropped the bomb. "Yesterday, Azuka's crew woke up. They did the same in my own house. They escaped before we could interrogate them." He grimaced at the uproar caused by the bad news. They all knew what it meant and none of them were happy with what would happen as a result.

"If Akira finds out…" Reyega said, voicing the unspoken concern. "How will we ensure that she won't go over to Urashima's side? She controls a significant number of out skilled soldiers. If she wanted to, she could take us down! What can we do to ensure our safety if she finds out?"

"She won't," said a sultry voice from the dark. Everyone quieted down at the intrusion. There were few privileged people who exercised their right to sit in on Lord meetings, but it was punishable by pains of death to interrupt. The voice's owner slowly walked up to the table, the click of her heels reverberating off the soundproof walls. The person's identity was finally revealed when she was within close proximity to the table.

"Sakura…" Reyega said simply, as if a curse. Sakura just held her cocky glare and sinuously walked up to the balding middle-aged man in her scanty dress that revealed more than it covered. She wrapped her arms around the man's chest, letting the back of his head rest in her flowering chest in a manner that quickly aroused the Lords.

"Sakura, what are you doing…" her father said nervously while she stroked his scalp. Sakura continued where she had left off, throwing caution to the wind.

"She won't find out because we won't tell her," Sakura said in a definite tone.

"And what about when she visits them at your father's home?" Reyega said icily. Sakura just smiled at him.

"Nothing. I've arranged to have some… replacements take their places. Since Azuka and his crew were covered in bandages almost completely, she won't be able to tell the difference," she answered, a sweet smile plastered on her face. "As long as she focuses on killing Urashima, we should let her be."

"We wouldn't have to let her be, if you didn't tell Akira about Azuka in the first place. And we also wouldn't have to worry about her wanting to supplant us either!" Reyega accused, now standing with a beet red face in exclamation. His aides were quickly by his side and got him to calm down so he wouldn't have a stroke. The Lords stayed silent.

"It was a necessary risk," Sakura returned, shocking the Lords with his insurrection. "She is the only one capable of stopping him; even our best have fallen to his might. Her knowledge of what Urashima did to Azuka will simply enhance her efficiency. I would know." Sakura smiled. Everything was going exactly to script. Just a little more and everything would fall into place.

"Do you mean to say that your wisdom is greater than the Council's?" Sensei said calmly.

_Shit…_ Sakura thought. She hadn't planned on someone catching her on that. She opened her mouth to speak, but Sensei beat her to the punch.

"Sit down before you dishonor your father any further," he said, calmly as ever. Sakura felt her father's back stiffen. Deciding that she had played with a fire she couldn't handle as well as she originally thought, she went back to the shadows without another word. Sensei continued to speak.

"Sakura did have a valid point…" the elder continued. "And only for that, will the Council forget today's transgressions." Reyega was about to protest, but decided that the matter was too small to voice. "My experience with Black Ninja Star magic tells me that there are spells that can be used to further the illusion of Azuka's replacements and keep Akira at bay, and keep her from recognizing him should she ever cross paths with the true Azuka." He looked around and the Lords seemed satisfied with his proposal.

"Speaking of the Black Ninja Stars, I also have a duty to perform on their behalf, since I also preside on their council…"

(O)

Sakura felt like destroying anything in her sight. A whip in hand, she was deciding which of her eunuchs (2) she would beat to a pulp. _The Indian one squirms and screams more, but the Irish one is so much bigger…_ she thought. Making her decision, she started whipping the Irish one, the poison soaked whip making multicolored welts all over his body, the only exceptions being where the restrains held him in place. The Indian still squirmed, unable to stomach the atrocity happening next to him.

After half an hour of bloody torture later, Sakura got bored. She let the Irish eunuch rest for a little bit until she decided to rape him. Over and over. After an hour of that, she called her personal eunuch to clean the blood off of her 'toys'. She also told him to clean up the mess she made and the vomit that covered and was under the Indian. Before she left, however, she decided to brand the Indian where the sun should never shine. His howlings were like music to her ear as she left to go take a bath.

While she soaked, she still didn't feel sated. Her body still wanted something, and even having sex with herself didn't quite itch her scratch. Frustrated, she left the bath without drying off or covering herself and went straight to her closet.

Inside, she found the object of her lust: her Keitaro doll 2.0. She had replaced the crude sex doll with a sex robot (1) that had just come out and programmed it to behave how Keitaro behaved while she spied on him. While having disturbing intercourse, she realized why she wanted his seed so much; everyone that ever talked to her treated her like royalty. _Except that bitch Akira._

The robot was made very well and was worth every penny. While she climaxed, to her extreme annoyance and irritation, her personal eunuch came in and informed her that she had a phone call. He knew what would happen to him if he bothered her at a time like now with something unimportant, so it had to be an urgent call. Dismounting, she picked up her phone as he left.

"Moshi, moshi?" she said.

"Hello Sakura-_chan_. How are you this evening…" said a man with an old voice Sakura easily recognized it to be Sensei's.

"Hello, Sensei. I humbly thank you again for keeping my father's honor intact after my foolish outburst today," Sakura said. She did her best to hide the fact that she hated treating anyone like they were above her.

"It was of no consequence," he said, brushing it aside. "But next time you want to voice your opinions, use the correct channels. I will not always be there to save your ass," he said sharply. Sakura held her breath. _This is not the guy to piss off,_ she thought.

"This isn't a social call," he continued, going straight to business. "I'm here to tell you to stay away from Urashima."

Sakura choked. Was this Reyega's retaliation for her insubordination? And how did they know about her obsession (_infatuation_ she corrected) with Keitaro?

"Why would the Council order me to do such a thing?" Sakura said after she gathered herself. She had to make it sound like Keitaro was just some thug that she happened to hear about on an off chance. _It must be one of the eunuchs,_ she thought and thought how she would punish all of them to root out the rat. They were the only ones who had any idea about her lust.

"This is not an order sanctioned by the Council," he replied, taking her by surprise. This is advice from me. You would be advised to rethink whatever you are plotting to do with him. You do not know what you are getting yourself into."

Sakura blinked for a second. _So it wasn't the Council's orders, _she thought in relief. But the fact that Sensei had some clue as to her intentions with her Keitaro still irked her.

Click

Before she could say anything back to him, he hung up. She put her phone back into its receiver and did the same with Mecha-Keitaro. She wasn't in the mood after taking that call.

(O)

For once in a long time, Keitaro was finally relaxed. His body was completely submerged under the warm, soothing waters of the hot spring up to his neck. The tension of the last few months slowly dissipated away from his tight muscles as the mineral water rejuvenated his battered body. Another first in a long time, Keitaro gave out a contented sigh. He would have gone on not caring about anything had his mind suddenly become alert to that fact that he was in a hot spring bath.

His body jerked out of the water so that he was now sitting up, attentive to his new surroundings. His eyes went from their normal almond shapes to those of saucers as he realized why his surroundings seemed familiar.

He was in the open-air hot spring bath back in the Hinata-sou.

"Oh goddammit!" Keitaro cursed, landing a balled fist onto the waters surface, causing water to spray everywhere as a result of the dissipation of mechanical energy. He heard a chuckling next to him. He turned to find…

"Me?" Keitaro said, more to himself than the person sitting next to him. The person made an amiable grin.

"No, not you," the stranger said wagging his finger in a negatory fashion. "The Other you."

Keitaro was about to respond to the anomalous reply, but he heard something in the distance. He turned his head to see some people enter the changing room, their outlines visible. He turned back to his companion to warn him of what was to come, but all he saw was steam. Keitaro wondered where he went, when he heard shuffling coming out of the changing room. What he saw was

the goddess of beauty, walking to him as if she had chosen him for some sacred duty. Every step she took radiated her beauty and made him succumb to her charms, as a Siren would snatch a sailor into her web of lust. 

Naru, clad in nothing but a towel. She wasn't wearing her glasses, so that could be why she wasn't immediately thundering up to him with a Naru-punch. She was followed in by the younger

raven haired samurai. Every movement she made radiated the power and confidence associated with all Samurai. Her simple ways made her have a natural beauty that was only surpassed by the goddess that she accompanied.

Motoko, who was also clad in only a towel. The two were talking to each other and failed to notice his presence.

"I don't know, it seems like he's been avoiding us," Naru said as she placed a foot in the other end of the spring.

"Maybe he's just stressed from the upcoming exams?" Motoko's voice answered with concern she had never shown openly in front of Keitaro. Before you could say "Ping," the two were inside the pool and were getting dangerously closer to Keitaro.

"Baka, hide before they see you!" someone said from behind him. He stopped short of a yelp and turned to find that it was the person who had disappeared moments ago. Keitaro turned back for a second to see where the girls were and saw he had a few seconds before they would notice him. He turned back to ask the person where to hide, but he had disappeared once again. Keitaro was already about to react as he used to, but suddenly found himself calm.

No, he wouldn't hide. That always made things worse.

Fighting the leaden weights on his feet, he fought his way _towards_ the girls, while his instincts screamed for him to scurry and hide.

"Someone's gonna get hurt," whispered the person who like to disappear a lot. His voice was just next to Keitaro's ear and sounded disappointed, but Keitaro ignored it.

"Hi Naru, Motoko," Keitaro said with cheer he hadn't had in quite some time. The two looked at him in shock, as if they'd been literally caught with their panties down.

"K-Keitaro!" was all Naru could say through the screen of fury within her mind. The fact that he wasn't flying yet showed Keitaro that maybe things wouldn't be as painful as they usually were.

"Urashima!" Motoko said,

_cutely, her face flushed._

taken by surprise. She put her arms around herself protectively, as if to shield herself from Keitaro germs. Keitaro moved forward another step, his confidence growing with every second he hadn't become a human projectile. He bowed.

"I'm sorry that I didn't make it clear I was going to be in the bath," he said simply. The girls just looked at him in wonder, but made no aggressive moves towards him. Hoping the situation wouldn't melt down in the next few seconds, Keitaro started walking towards the exit, while saying, "I hope you enjoy your bath," with one of those genuine smiles that hadn't populated his face for some time. He thought that all he had just worked for was about to collapse when Naru suddenly reached forward. Instinctively, his mind prepared himself for the jolt that would send him to another region.

But the punch never came. Instead, Naru's hand was holding onto his arm, cutting off escape. Keitaro was about to beg for forgiveness, something he realized at once that he would have done months ago when this same scenario happened, but Naru didn't wind up any punch.

Instead, she said, "It's alright. You weren't doing anything perverted for once. We'll leave."

Keitaro, along with Motoko, looked at Naru with dumb faces. Neither could believe that she wouldn't send him flying for his atrocity, whatever it might be. But Motoko's features softened when she realized that there wasn't any atrocity; that Keitaro wasn't perpetrating any kind of crime. Naru was looking at her for approval, and she nodded in agreement.

Ready to piss himself, Keitaro just waited for the inevitable punch. But still, it never came. To the contrary, Naru started moving to leave the spring, Motoko in train. Before she entered the changing room, however, she gave him a

cute, heartwarming smile that a wife gives to her love as he is about to go out for the first day of his new job.

smirk that seemed to tell him that he was in her good graces for once in their lives. As Keitaro felt relief from them leaving and him still being on the earth, the water in the springs started to boil. It got so hot that he fainted.

(-)

When Keitaro woke up, he found himself in his futon. He slowly sat up and tool note of his surroundings. He was back in his room as the manager of the Hinata-sou. Sitting on his study seat was his copy.

"Comfortable are we?" he said with something not amicable edging in his voice. Before Keitaro could respond, he heard a large crash nearby. When he turned to look at his study, his seat was empty, as the person he saw sitting there was just a figment of his imagination. His door suddenly opened and revealed Motoko, her katana quivering dangerously in one hand.

"You shall die today for your transgressions!" she accused, being the only warning Keitaro had before she lashed out. Normally, Keitaro would have ran like hell, only to be beaten to a pulp later, so he decided to try something different.

"Motoko," he said carefully, trying to reason with her. "What happened?"

Why do you hurt me? 

"You have no excuses!" she declared and let fly one of her demonic attacks. Keitaro tried to block the attack, but found that his newfound powers were gone. He was hit full force with the ki attack and sent upstairs to Naru's room.

He lay sprawled over her floor, trying to recover from his daze. Immediately, he got to his feet and said, "Naru! Motoko's gone crazy! Talk some sense into her!"

I don't want her to hurt me anymore. Protect me! 

He was answered by a kick to the loins. He looked up to find a red-faced Naru wearing only undergarments. And she was winding up for bear.

"You stupid," _Punch_

"Short," _Punch_

"Good for nothing," _Punch_

"Waste of man," _Punch_

"Piece of trash!" _Kick_

"You're so weak that you can't even protect yourself!" _Punch_

"You're so shameless that you ask a girl!" _Punch_

"You're so useless, I never want to see your face again!" Slash! Motoko had joined in on the fray. And so, Keitaro retreated into himself as his body was flung around like a rag doll, making new doors throughout the Inn. By the time they were done with him, he could barely open his eyes. With how much he could open them, he saw Naru towering over him with a look that could kill. She spat at him in disgust and stormed away. Motoko had those eyes… those blood chilling eyes that her sister had. She stared at him for a few moments before giving him a final kick in the chest and storming off with Naru. Keitaro crumpled into a fetal position after the last assault and cried blood as he waited for his body to pick itself up again.

Why do they hurt me? 

_Why do they hate me?_

_You're worthless…_ a voice rung in his head. _You stupid ronin piece of shit!_

What did I ever do to deserve this? 

_All I ever wanted was to be accepted… to be loved._

_Who would want to love a sack of garbage like you?_ the voice said more angrily.

Why do they hurt me? 

_Why do they hate me?_

By now, Keitaro had recovered enough so that he could move. He fought to get back to his room and collapsed on his futon. He lay there for what seemed to be ages and heard some shuffling.

_No more!_ he begged in his mind. He craned his head to where the noise came from, even though he knew he would regret it. But to his surprise, there was his copy, sitting on his study chair once again.

"Keitaro… they hurt you. They hate you. They will never accept you…" it said gravely.

"Never?" Keitaro said with a cracked voice.

"No."

"Will anyone love me?" he said after a while.

"No."

Keitaro started crying. He cried so hard he was crying blood. He felt someone touch his shoulder. He looked up to find his copy sitting next to him. Keitaro instinctively grabbed onto him and cried harder then he knew he could. After a while, he calmed down. After much thought, he finally said, "Will you love me?" hoping that he would respond well.

The copy looked straight at him and smiled warmly. "Yes, Keitaro. I will love you. If only you will receive me…"

Hesitantly, Keitaro finally agreed, nodding subtly. The copy broke out into a grin. Thank you, Keitaro. I will do my best to love you. But then he disappeared.

Keitaro was alone. All by himself, he felt like he was already dead.

"Me? Where are you? Don't leave me alone… I don't want to be alone…"

"Don't worry, Keitaro, I'm still with you," his voice said, though he was nowhere to be found. For some reason, everything started to look blurry. "I have a present for you Keitaro. I know that you want to be with someone. Please take accept my gift, and love it in my place."

With that, Keitaro's world blurred into a kaleidoscope of color until it finally settled down.

Into his bedroom at Yuri's house. Keitaro got up, realizing he had been dreaming.

But it felt so real… 

Keitaro sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes. The last thing that that copy of himself in his dream said was still replaying in his mind. Feeling a bit foolish, he started searching his room for his gift. After a few minutes of searching, he gave up and laughed at himself for being a baka.

But he heard a sniffle.

Keitaro listened for the sniffle and found that it came from his closet. He walked up to it slowly, ready to fight if necessary. He jerked the door open and pulled the person hiding inside out.

It was a small Chinese girl not that much older than Shinobu with a bow tied around her wrists and ankles. Keitaro stumbled back in surprise. What was she doing in his room?

In shaky Japanese, she said something that chilled him to be bone: "P-please be gentle."

(O)

Mutsumi clicked her tongue on her teeth. Today's test was harder than usual, but it wasn't anything that a little hard thinking wouldn't solve. Three hours later, she and the rest of her class handed in their tests as the left the lecture hall. The semester was coming to a close, and everyone was getting ready to the holidays. She connected with her normal group of upper-classmen posse and proceeded to go out for lunch before going home. On her way out, she spotted Naru and waved to her in salutation. Naru waved back and proceeded on her beeline to the Hinata-sou. Mutsumi's face adorned a rare frown on it. Ever since that day she had gone out with Kentaro, Naru became as recluse as her high school years, and Mitsune had explained to her recently.

Everyone knew that Naru had had feelings for Keitaro, and from what she had heard from Kentaro from that night, Keitaro had flatly rejected her, after all these years of chasing her. Mutsumi gathered that one reason that Naru had never been true to her heart was that she was always afraid of rejection, and that if she opened up, she would be badly hurt.

_A lot good that did…_ Mutsumi thought sarcastically. By choosing to keep Keitaro at a distance, she had ended up hurting herself a lot more than she could have imagined. Mutsumi knew that Naru was paying for that now. It wasn't all that uncommon for her to hear Naru cry herself to sleep whenever Mutsumi went to the bathroom at night. Her sister had stopped by a few times to take care of her, and that usually made Naru feel a bit better. But it was inevitable that she would go back to her stupor. The two presided in the same school and they would cross paths every now and then. Whenever Naru saw Keitaro, she would freeze up or hide. Whenever Keitaro saw Naru, he would just ignore her and walk away coldly.

Neither knew as much, but they hurt each other deeply whenever they met.

_Kei-kun…_ Mutsumi thought affectingly. What had happened to her Kei-kun? Her memories were slowly coming back to her and she remembered the sweet little boy that played with her and nursed Na-chan back to health when she was sick. The Keitaro she had gotten to know so fondly from back in Okinawa wasn't much different. His babyish face and childlike grin always melted her heart. He was always so nice to her and helped her whenever she fainted. She had gotten very cozy with Naru and him up till the exams.

Everything went horribly wrong.

From what her friends told her, Keitaro was running with a rough crowd. He actually had a reputation on the street for being a cold merciless bully; nothing like the Kei-kun that she fondly remembered. She couldn't understand why he turned out the way he did. Sure, the girls teased him every now and then, but he was loved. Didn't he know that?

Mutsumi had remembered about Keitaro's promise girl. Wasn't it ironic that it was none other than Naru, the girl he had chased after ever since he became a part of the girls' lives? The girl that lover him, but was too afraid to admit it to him or herself and ended up driving him away from her. Mutsumi could tell them about what she knew, but she knew it would cause more harm than good. Naru would be heartbroken to discover the truth, that he would have accepted her in the end, no matter her failings. Keitaro would be a bit upset, but he would probably call her a liar.

Mutsumi sighed. The Hinata-sou wasn't as lively as it was back when everything was perfect. Shinobu's grades had slipped down the slippery slopes of depression. Without Keitaro to tutor her anymore, she simply lost all interest in school. Her cooking had gotten a bit dull, something Su emphasized everyday, to Shinobu's annoyance. She wasn't sure, but maybe Shinobu had finally discovered boys? There was that boy she hung out with a lot, though she had her suspicions that she only did so to fill in the vacuum of Keitaro suddenly leaving her. She was surprised that he didn't visit her at all, since she knew that Keitaro and Shinobu had a thinly disguised sibling-like relationship.

Motoko was the most interesting. After her defeat to and subsequent grilling by Keitaro so long ago, she had given up all of the femininity she had cozied up to and went back to her strict Samurai lifestyle. She had gotten colder and all of her movements held an air of purpose, not the way she had changed after Keitaro had become part of her life. And from the way she trained, even Mutsumi could tell that she had gotten tremendously stronger since then.

Su and Sarah were largely unaffected, though Su was forced to play with Sarah only now, since Motoko would no longer tolerate her presence. Strangely, they were blossoming into seemingly normal school girls, no more inventions and no more guns. It probably had something to do with how Su's sister ran the joint with an iron fist.

Mitsune seemed the most changed. She was no longer piss drunk all the time, but instead worked with Haruka at her shop and wrote a series of books that were selling quite well. They had both gotten closer since Naru became so antisocial and were very good friends and confidants.

"You coming, Mutsumi?" said one of her friends, bringing her out of her thoughts. She had a worried look on her face.

"Ara, ara, sorry about that," Mutsumi said and moved to join her friends.

(-)

Mutsumi got back to the Hinata-sou at the time she usually did and went to the steps that led to its mansion. She decided to take a detour, however, and stepped into Haruka's shop. Mitsune wasn't at the register, so she assumed that she was off duty at the moment. That was one good thing. She didn't was Mitsune to hear any of this.

"Good evening Mutsumi," Haruka said casually, while Mutsumi hung her coat on the wall. "Anything I can do for you?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something…" she said a bit sadly. The two sat down at a table while Haruka lit up.

"About my nephew?" Haruka said after taking a drag. When Mutsumi nodded, she said, "How is he these days?"

"I wouldn't say well, but he's… found his place I guess…" Haruka didn't say anything, so Mutsumi started talking about what was bothering her. "I remembered something from my childhood. I know who his promise girl is."

"Ah… so you finally figured out it was Naru, ne?" Mutsumi's eyes opened up in surprise.

"You knew? Since when?"

"I've known for some time now…"

"Then why didn't you tell him? Maybe he wouldn't have left us like he did." Haruka took a long drag from the fag she was smoking.

"It wasn't my business," she finally said. "I was hoping Naru would get around to it, not me."

"Oh," Mutsumi said quietly. "But suppose-"

"What's done is done," Haruka said, cutting her off. "I don't think of the what if's. There are just too many of them. The world will go on, even if someone else doesn't," she said, referring to Naru. Mutsumi didn't speak, though the expression on her face said enough. "Look," Haruka said, extinguishing her butt out on a glass ashtray. "I've learned the hard way not to make decisions for people. You may mean well, but things like this tend to blow up in your face."

Mutsumi sighed. She had thought as well too. When Haruka saw that expression on her face, she held Mutsumi's hand and said, "It may be hard to believe, but things always fall into place. Just give him some time and he will probably come around. If I know anything about Keitaro, its that he's not a bad guy, even if he is hanging around with a rough crowd right now." She said the last part with a wrinkle on her nose. The two stood quiet for a while, until Mutsumi stood to get up.

"Thank you for seeing me," Mutsumi said. She wasn't as confused as she was earlier that day with all of her thoughts anymore. As much as it pained her to do it, she would keep quiet about what she had discovered.

"No problem," Haruka said, also getting up. She walked Mutsumi to the door and saw her off. As Mutsumi disappeared into the distance, someone walked up behind Haruka.

"Don't do anything stupid," Haruka said as neutrally as she could.

"Don't worry," Mitsune said from behind her. "Naru will always be my best friend, but this isn't something I'll tell her about, no matter how much she'd want to hear it." The two stood there silently until a customer walked in.

(O)

It was a few hours before sunrise, but someone started to leave the house. Akira suddenly perked up. She had been stalking this house the whole night and the bane of her existence finally showed.

"You sure you ready for this, doll?" said Luciana, her best friend from the States. The two stood invisible as they watched Keitaro lead a small girl with tattered clothes to his car as quietly as he could.

"He's into kids!" Luciana said, disbelievingly. "Okay, he does deserve to die."

"Thank you," Akira said smugly. The two left as quietly as they came and went back to their temporary base of operations.

_Soon… Urashima Keitaro… soon I will repay you for the blood on you hands…_

(-O-)

(1) These actually exist, though I don't think they are as sophisticated as the one that I use in this chapter. But then again, this is Japan and they're years ahead of us in everything and decades in this particular field. I chanced upon it on Yahoo! news one day. They're supposed to heat up and cool down where a normal person would while in use. I can't believe that some people are so desperate…

(2) A dude without a set of… ehem…

**Technical specs of the Lotus Elise from Lotus of America's official website:**

Toyota supplied, 4 cylinder, dohc 4 valves per cylinder with variable valve timing and lift  
Capacity: 1796 cm3  
Bore/Stroke: 82.0 mm / 85.0 mm  
Maximum Power: 190 hp (141 kW) 7800 rpm (DIN 70020)  
Maximum Torque: 138 lb ft (181 Nm) 6800 rpm (DIN 70020)  
Compression Ratio: 11.5:1  
0-60 mph: 4.9 sec, 4.7 sec (Sports Pack)  
0-100 mph: 13.0 sec  
Standing 1/4: circa 13.6 sec  
Top speed: 150 mph  
0 - 100 mph - 0: circa 17.5 sec  
100 mph - 0: circa 85m

Fun fact about Lotus:

TYPE 43 1966 - 1967 

Chapman truncated the monocoque chassis, ending Formula 1

it abruptly behind the driver. The engine was BRM H16 2996cc

mounted to the rear bulkhead and the entire BRM 6 speed

rear suspension was mounted to the engine and Stressed Monocoque

transaxle. Other teams declared that the car Weight: 1105 lbs

would fold in half at the first corner. Today

EVERY Formula One, Indy Car and World Endurance

Cup car has a truncated monocoque chassis with

its engine and transaxle carrying the rear

suspension, it is now accepted as the "only"

way to build a fast race car.

Wow, I usually catch mistakes like repeated sentences or paragraphs. Thanks to glazedlookineyes101 for pointing out that horrid mistake (and the minor one as well).

**Remember; click the 'Go' button on your way out. (Flames are still understandable and especially welcome if critical)**

**Cheers: )**


	10. His Decision

**Unfortunately, I ran out of time. I will be departing for a tour of the Mid East and Asia tomorrow and wont be back till mid-August. I had planned on submitting the final chapter of TOM and TSTBTPB, but like I said, I ran out of time. Check my profile for story statuses.**

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Thirteen:** His Decision

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

**Beta:** _replace with preferred alias_

**Disclaimer: **_See Chapter Four_

Note about last chapter: I've finally gotten close enough to an Elise to touch one (it looks so hot), and I realized that I've made two mistakes about what happened in the race last chapter. The first thing is that the Civic is nearly twice as tall as an Elise. If Taisho had slammed into it at a high rate of speed, he might have either jumped on top of it, or flipped over it, since the Civic is has a much higher ground clearance. That brings me to my next point: the Elise is like an inch off of the ground. If Keitaro had jumped with it, I doubt it would be able to move after it landed…

I've also learned that the Elise drifts well. I think I should have done that a bit last chapter too.

(-O-)

"Happy birthday to you…"

I haven't been so happy in such a long time.

"Happy birthday to you…"

My mom was here. And my dad was here too.

"Happy birthday Shinobu…"

My friends were here. My family was here.

"Happy birthday to you!"

Everyone that I have known and loved was here.

"Are you one?"

Everyone… 

"Are you two?"

Except… 

"Are you three?"

The only person I wanted to see.

"She's fourteen!" Su hollered, ruining the song.

"Su!" Sarah yelled and smacked her upside the head.

I've finally turned fourteen.

"Then blow out the candles, Shinomu!" Su insisted.

Would you notice me now if you saw me? 

"Make a wish," my mom said, putting a hand on my shoulder warmly.

Will you look at me now? 

"Wish for whatever you want, Shinobu," my dad said, holding my other shoulder. With tears in my eyes, I gave a strong huff.

I want Keitaro-sempai to come back to me… 

(O)

"P-please… be gentle," the Chinese teen said, looking down at the ground. My chest tightened. My heartbeat rose. My hands trembled. _My blood flowed._

I panicked. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed her by the arm

and threw her to my bed. I ripped apart her already torn clothes and went on top of her while she screamed for me to get off. I held her by the wrists as she tried to struggle against me, but I was too strong. The way she squirmed under me got me excited. Her screams and moans only enhanced my pleasure. Before long, I was impaled within her. We were both joined as one, the payment of the rite paid with her virgin blood…

and hurried to the door. Before I took her out with me, I checked to make sure the coast was clear. The house was as empty as a graveyard. I quickly shuffled outside, making a point to hold the girl in a vice-like grip. I checked again to make sure no one was looking and quickly made my way to my new car. I signaled for her to go into the passenger seat and she obeyed without a word. I went into the drivers seat and got the hell out of there.

And I drove.

I drove and drove until there were no more roads.

And I kept on driving. The only thing in my mind was the frantic urge to get as many kilometers away as I could from that place. I didn't know why, but it was a strong feeling. The kind of feeling you get when you are alone in the dark, the hair in the back of your neck rising, minutes before a killer enters your home and kills everyone inside. Imagine that, but so much more.

I came out of my instinct-led autopilot when I started to hear whimpering. I jerked out of my uncontrollable urge to flee and looked to my left. There was the Chinese girl, crying with her head on the tinted passenger window. I fought back to regain control of the car after I unwittingly jerked to the side in surprise. She sat at attention instantly after that. She had stopped whimpering, but there were still tears sliding down her face.

I took a few moments to collect myself. As I started calming down more and more, I parked at the closest parking lot I could find. I took notice of my surroundings. It was still before sunrise. In my mind I chuckled; no matter what happened in my life, I always found myself ending up here. Its like I have some deep affinity for this place. My mind's laugh turned sarcastic.

It was sad how obsessed I had become with Todai. Being there wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I had never been so alone.

"Please don't kill me…" the Chinese girl whispered. Jesus! I had completely forgotten about her, such was the deepness of my thoughts.

"You think," I started, by voice cracking after the thoughts I was having. "You think I'm going to kill you?" I said, looking at her. She moved as far away from me as she could, and said. "Do whatever you want with my body… just please don't kill me." My heart broke. It had shattered to a thousand pieces and was mauled by a sledgehammer. I could feel warm liquid climbing down my cheeks.

What kind of monster had I become?

"W-why do you think I would want to kill you?" I said. Even I could hear the edge of insanity that my voice held.

"Because that's what happens to sex-slaves. You use us, then throw us away," she said, matter-of-factly.

I would never be able to comprehend what this girl had gone through if she could speak about something like that with a straight face.

"You're a sex slave!" I shrieked. I jumped and possibly cracked my skull on the roof. "How the hell did you end up in my closet!"

She stayed quiet. I stood quiet. Neither of us spoke.

I gave up waiting and said, "I'll drop you off at the embassy. They'll send you back to your village or wherever you came from." I started the car again and started to back out of my spot, but the girl screamed No! I slammed the brakes hard, causing me to smack my head on the steering wheel. I felt my forehead and saw blood on my hands.

"_Shit!_" cursed angrily and put a tissue to my wound. The girl frantically tried to open her door and run away, but it was locked.

"Calm down," I said, trying to sound calm myself. "I wont hurt you."

She stopped squirming, but she maintained her distance. In her eyes, I could see the raw fear; the fear that maybe because I got hurt because of her outburst, I would change my mind about killing her.

And for a split second, I almost did.

After nursing my wounds, I finally said, "Why not the embassy? Don't you have family?"

"No," she said, her voice trembling. She brought her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her shins protectively; her gaze went to another place, another time. After a while, she whispered, "No father trades his daughter for pigs," barely audible.

We sat together quietly, the only sound being the expectant purring of the Elise's engine.

You crybaby! You have never felt true pain. This girl… this child! She has probably felt more pain in one month than you have in your life!

I kept on yelling at myself. I yelled, screamed and clawed at my mind at all the dumb, foolish mistakes I had made in my life. I cursed myself for all these years in which I had shirked true responsibility for a foolhardy dream that would never come true. I mangled my memories for all the time I had wasted and decided I should live no more.

I was a waste of male…

I was worthless… 

No one would love a sack of garbage like me…

I deserved to die for my sins.

And this girl was the catalyst that finally made me realize. I suppose should be thankful to her, but I was feeling empty inside all of a sudden. I unlocked the doors. I got out of my seat and walked over to her door. I opened it.

Ba-dump… 

"Get out," I said dispassionately. A small white cloud escaped my lips; a testament to the fact that winter was approaching.

Ba-dump… 

"Why?" she said, her ironclad obedience faltered by fear.

Da-bump… 

"You're free. You're not my problem," I replied flatly. She sat still with shock in her face, as if she didn't believe what I had said.

The rash behind my ear was on fire.

After a while, though, she shook her head.

Unconsciously, I put my hand back to scratch it… 

"I told you, you're free," I repeated.

But it only made the sensation worse.

"Whether I'm your problem or not," she said, looking older than I felt, "you're all I have in this world." When she wouldn't come out, I just shrugged and went back to my seat. I pulled out of the parking lot again, this time not stopped by a sudden outburst and headed back to the Kangawa prefecture. I pulled into Yurislovak Ivanovich Kenersky's garage and went to my room. I stripped down to my underwear and collapsed on my bed, facing up.

There were no more burning sensations behind my ear now.

I heard a thud next to me. I turned my head and came face to face with the girl. She also stripped down to her panties.

I didn't feel anything.

I turned my head to the other side and saw that her tattered clothes were scattered over the floor like mine. She had had the courtesy to close the door behind her. I turned the light on my study off. It was the only light in my room, but the sun had finally started to rise and was filtering through my curtains. I turned to my side so I would face the edge of the bed.

Moments later, I felt warmth behind me. She was slowly getting closer and closer to me. As I was getting closer and closer to unconsciousness, I heard her whisper, "Hold me."

I turned around to face her. I reached out with my hands and cradled her. I brought her closer and closer to me till her forehead was touching my chest. She shivered at my touch, but said nothing. After a while, I heard whimpers and felt warm moisture on my chest.

Inside, I still felt hollow.

Before sleep took hold of me, I thought, _No one touches her._ Amazingly, the calmness I felt was like the state of Nirvana and I simply turned off, just like that.

(O)

My name is Yu-Ren Xiao. I am fifteen years old.

I am not a thing. I am not 'just a girl.' I am a living, breathing human being with my own emotions and the ability to think. I was the only born of two business owners in the People's Republic of China. They had a small chain of groceries in their possession in a town that the Japanese Imperialist devils call Manchuria. I had grown up loved. My parents loved me and I had many wonderful friends. Everything changed when I turned thirteen.

The River had flooded. My town flooded with it too. Many had died.

My mother was among them. We were ruined.

I was fourteen when the men came. They promised my father pigs in return for me. My father had always wanted a son, but he never said that to me when my mother was there. After the flood destroyed our farm and my family was destroyed by the death of my mother, my father became bitter. Times were tough. The farm my dad and I had to work on after the flood barely made enough to support my father. The government had all but forgotten us, saying that the technological cities were far more important then we were. That the military had to catch up to the Western Devils. I had gone to school when we had money, but the flood destroyed our school too. The government ignored the fact, but my elderly neighbor taught my friends and I how to read and write Japanese. He was a Japanese devil that had become one of the rare surviving Chinese POW's from some war he wouldn't tell us about. How he survived the political purges is beyond my understanding.

The government never made a new school for us.

My father was all too happy to trade me for a fresh start. I didn't cry when they slaughtered him like a pig after he gave me to them. _How ironic_.I can still remember how they laughed when he was screaming from the fire that covered his body.

They spirited me to some dirty shanty house that had a _kang_(1) too small to keep my teeth from chattering during the harsh Chinese winter. I wasn't alone though. The men would come in whenever they desired and touched me. I had horribly memories of that place that I never wanted to relive. _I would sooner die._ The only good thing that came out of it was that they never deflowered me. When I found out why, I cried myself to sleep every night. When spring came, they herded me and several hundred other children into a cargo container. We crossed the Sea of Japan and hit Japanese soil a few dead bodies later.

After that, we were smuggled across the country, taken to this house and that. After almost a year after being betrayed by my blood father, I was finally auctioned off at the ripe age of fifteen. I was delivered to a Russki's house and stowed away in a closet. I never saw those men since. I hope they died.

After my first few hours with the man whose room I had been stowed away in, I ironically went to bed with him. But he never touched me like those men did. Instead, he held onto me and soothed me while I finally let all the fear, anger, and hate bleed out. By the time I went to sleep, I was no longer afraid of this man, he who had taken me in without asking for anything in return.

For the first time since my mother died, I felt loved.

A dark presence suddenly filled the room. It eyed the little Chinese girl that was cradled protectively in Keitaro's embrace. It started moving towards her, but something wouldn't let it get close. It hissed in displeasure and disappeared to the abyss.

(O)

"Good bye, Shinobu," the few people in her close circle of friends said as they left the Hinata-sou. Her parents had had to leave earlier because they had jobs early in the morning, but they didn't leave without embarrassing her about how much they loved her. Shinobu surveyed the wreckage that was inevitably associated with any party that existed within the walls of the Hinata. Almost everyone of age had gotten drunk, even Su's older sister, so it was a pretty wild time. Right now, Su was sleeping on the floor, her face buried under a pile of banana peels. Kitsune, however much she had reformed herself, was lying on the sofa, piss drunk. Sarah was among the land of the living and was poking at Su. Su's sister was nowhere to be seen. Motoko was starting the cleanup, though her face was slightly red from the few drinks she had. Mutsumi was asleep next to Haruka, who was sleeping on Mitsune's lap. Naru looked a little drunk, but she was helping with the cleanup nevertheless.

The place looked like what it used to look like after one of Keitaro's "accidents." Shinobu felt sad just having it cross her mind. She missed her Sempai so much, though she was slowly getting over him, but all too slowly. Naru came up to her and asked with a warm smile, "So Shinobu-Chan. What did you wish for?"

It was just idle chitchat she wanted to start so that the cleanup would go along faster. But Shinobu looked away and said, "I can't tell you Sempai… it won't come true then…"

By the way she said it, Naru could tell what she meant. Shinobu had made it no secret that she blamed Naru for Keitaro's resignation as manager. Naru frowned as went to talk to Motoko.

Shinobu felt guilty. She knew that Naru all but cried herself to sleep nowadays. No doubt, today wouldn't be any different. She started cleaning with a heavy heart.

(-)

It had been a few days since her birthday. Naru hadn't spoken to her, but she hardly spoke in the first place. Shinobu was heading to her classroom and managed to slip in a few minutes before the bell. After all the classroom pleasantries were done, the teacher said she had an announcement.

"I would like all of you to welcome Ren. She's from China, but she speaks Japanese fairly well. I hope you treat her well, since today is her first day in school."

The teacher was an idiot. She should have just introduced her and let her take a seat. The kids would have gotten suspicious of her heritage because of her name and shaky Japanese, but they probably wouldn't have done anything about it. Now that everyone knew she was Chinese, she was going to have a hard time. With things the way they were going with China, every kid's parents probably instilled some form of discrimination against Chinese people to their children.

She sat all the way in the back and never looked at anyone. She was quiet the whole time too. At lunch, she sat alone and ate quietly. When the girls were mean to her, she would just look down and take it.

She was just like Shinobu before Keitaro came into her life.

After a few weeks, Shinobu approached her during lunch, drawing malicious whispers among her peers. She didn't speak to her when she sat at her table; she just ate. After a few days, her friends joined her. Even though they all talked among themselves, the newcomer never said a word. It took another week before she said anything.

"Do you want this?" she asked Shinobu, holding a _Lychee_(2) in her hand. The girls had all been talking to each other, but became quieted when she made her proposition. Shinobu's face was covered with a smile from ear to ear.

"You talked!" she said happily and drew her into a hug. Her friends exploded into cheer, drawing attention from the whole cafeteria while the _gaijin_(3) wondered what the hell was going on within Shinobu's embrace.

(-)

Ren agreed to walk home with Shinobu today. It was a vast improvement on her part since she said something to Shinobu for the first time a few weeks ago. They were both shocked to find that they were on the same train. They were even more shocked to find that Shinobu actually lived in the mansion near Yuri's.

As Ren went to go home, Shinobu waved her goodbye. Ren headed straight for the kitchen. She made what her home economics teacher called _giri_.(4) They were basically rice balls that she found to be tolerable. Nothing felt right against proper Chinese noodles or fried rice. But then, there was nothing proper about these Japanese devils either. Regardless, she finished her dish of the day before Keitaro got back from school. She set them on his study and started her homework.

He came home sometime later and went straight to his study. He grunted in acknowledgement of the food she had prepared and ate it. They never spoke once. After a while, his head would slam on the desk and he'd get on his feet again. He would close the door behind him as he left their room and go wherever he went with the army of scary looking men that lived here. (The pale-faced Russki that the scary men seemed to take orders from had dragged her some time ago to the Japanese school and enrolled her. She had resisted ever step of the way until he told her _in Chinese_ that her roommate had ordained it.) By the time she would fall asleep, he would come back and sleep on his spot in his bed next to her. Every time she woke up, she would wake up holding onto him. She would get ready to go to school and then repeat everything again.

It was nice, living one day at a time. Even though she didn't like how he never spoke to her since that first day, she had gotten used to it. And she wasn't in want of anything, not like how it used to be. He always left some money in her pocket. By now, she had accumulated a respectable wardrobe and seemed like any other girl to the outside. But within these walls, this room was her safe, though fragile, place that every person needed to have. Sure she had friends at school, but if she had to choose between them, and this man whose name she had yet to discover, she wouldn't have hesitated in the least.

She put on her uniform as quietly as she could, not in the least embarrassed to strip down from her baby blue 'Hello Kitty' pajamas to her birthday suit in front of his sleeping form. Time and time again, she would catch herself staying like that for an extra moment or two, hoping to see him do something else besides grunting, but he just lay there quietly, his chest moving up and down in a steady rhythm. She slipped on her socks before she left the room, but made one longing glance before that. He turned around in his sleep, as if reminding her that she would soon be late for her train. She hurried outside and hooked up with Shinobu.

(O)

My name is Motoko Aoyama. Heir to the Shinmei Ryu School of fighting. Younger sister of Tsuroko Aoyama, the greatest master of our style of fighting ever to live. I lost a duel to a man.

I have made myself pay for it since.

I follow the way of _Bushido_ (5). The _only_ true path to master my family's style of fighting. I had deluded myself into thinking that I could be feminine. I have been enlightened since. Femininity had nothing to do with the abilities of a fighter; my sister is a living testament to that. The only reason I have forsaken ever becoming feminine again is because it reminds me of that arrogant point in my life when I thought that all males were subhuman by their inherent natures. I have amended my views into accepting that there is no difference between a man and a woman, other than the, what I have since learned is called 'genetic,' differences. The only socialization I do now is with my original friends at school. The only people I speak to are those in the kendo club. Outside of school, my life revolves around _Bushido_.

I no longer tolerate the shenanigans of Kaolla Su. Her older sister, and present _Kanrinin_ (6), has been very useful in expediting her removal from my daily routine. She and Sarah hide in the secret tunnels throughout the Hinata-sou in efforts to keep her sister from completely imposing on their strange and violent lifestyle.

Keitaro's pet turtle, Tama-Chan resides with me now. It doesn't bother me much, and is gone for most of the time after I come back from school, so I tolerate it. I still owe its master that much. Though we hadn't left in the best of terms, he made me discover my weakness- my arrogance, the reason I had lost a duel with him. Since then, I have gotten stronger by at least tenfold. But nothing I've done will be as powerful as his Thousand Needles Attack, even if it did seem like an illusion. Even after all this time, I succumb to phantom pain in the places where his attack had connected, but no remedy that I have tried so far has been able to cure me of it. I know that it would probably be easier to just ask Urashima, but I feel that I would be even more disgraced after what I had done when I lost the duel with him.

At the moment, I am training. If you saw me at any point of the day, I would most likely be training. That is the only reason I am giving you my time. Life has gotten very repetitive and boring.

(-)

_Not good enough!_ Motoko thought as she slashed at the air. It would seem like useless movement, but if you were watching closely enough, you could see her slicing at fallen leaves. With every slash she made, the leaves were cut that much more evenly.

"HA!" she yelled, slashing again. The leaf split into two neat, almost identical halves. She had cut it straight down the central vein.

She still wasn't satisfied. She slashed some more until she felt a presence. She somersaulted backwards, ending the maneuver with her katana at the intruder's neck. Motoko no longer thought of her katana as a sword. It was just a piece of metal. It would dent and dull in its natural state. But at her level, she knew what it really was. I was just a tool to channel her ki. She had recently discovered how to treat it as an extension of herself, instead of an independent entity. Since then, her power grew at a dizzying rate.

Metal clashed on metal. Motoko placed her katana in its sheath and took a step back. She bowed in respect.

"You have gotten much better, little sister," Tsuroko stated.

"Thank you, Aneue," Motoko replied formally. Tsuroko had noticed the drastic change in Motoko's demeanor from the way the slashed in the air, but gave no notice; she had always believed it was Motoko's choice how she would train. If she would conform completely to the ways of _Bushido_ and ignore everything else life had to offer, so be it. So long as she had a clear purpose in life and followed it fully, Tsuroko would not scold her for it.

"I suppose you want to know why I am here?" she asked calmly. She was a bit frustrated they had to act so formal with each other now.

"It is not any of my business," Motoko said neutrally. "But I suppose you will tell me anyhow?" Tsuroko smiled. Even if she did start the true path to become a samurai, she still knew her older sister. She got to business.

"I will reside in the Hinata-sou for a week or so. Our spies within the Black Ninja Stars have reported strange movements towards this area. We were surprised to find that they were under the indirect sponsorship of the remnants of the Yakuza. Me and some of the others will monitor their activities. We have mobilized all but our Council to come down and see what they're up to. Another reason that I have come here is to investigate the presence of an unknown type of demon. The Council thinks that the two may be related, since the report of the demon originated from a Black Ninja Star operative that had a mission somewhere in this region."

"Do you want me to help in the search?" Motoko asked.

"No, you should continue your training. This is none of your concern."

"Thank you, Aneue," Motoko said, largely uninterested. Tsuroko took the thinly veiled dismissal and formally dismissed her younger sister. She went out in search for answers while Motoko continued slashing; as if her sister hadn't spoken to her at all. It chilled Tsuroko how Motoko hardly reacted to her presence. She didn't even hug her!

(O)

Shinobu had gotten nosier and nosier. She kept on asking Ren (they had nicknamed her Rin, since it was a Japanese name that sounded very similar to her own) about personal stuff that she really didn't want to talk about, but she somehow managed. She reminded her of Ren's childhood friend, Anna Leung, a girl who had moved to her village from Hong Kong. She was part of the bourgeois class (even though China was supposed to have banished such class distinctions long ago) and had a habit of trying to match her friends with boys to marry, much like a bourgeoisie mother would try to match her daughters up with privileged men. During lunch, they were gossiping over who liked who, and the question came to Ren.

"So Rin, is there anyone you like?" one of the girls asked.

"No," she replied automatically, her almond shaped slits giving away nothing. But there wasn't anything to give; she hated all the boys in this school.

"It doesn't have to be someone from here…" another girl said. Ren opened her mouth again to say no, but nothing left her lips. Before she could cover herself up, all the girls giggled.

"You _do_ like someone!" the same girl accused.

"Who is it?" Shinobu said, her eyes sparkling. Ren knew that Shinobu had this unrealistic image of Ren being this girl that would jump into a man's arms and ride off into a romantic sunset. Ren knew better. After all she had been through, she better have known better.

Ren was about to deny the truth, but said instead said, "He's the kindest person I have ever met." Ren sounded distant, and scolded herself when she realized that she was having one of those ridiculous fantasies about riding off into the sunset in her protector's arms. She blushed as the fantasy reached its climax.

"Rin looks like Shinobu when she's thinking about that four eyed dork!" the first girl teased.

"Hey!" Shinobu instantly retorted. "Keitaro-sempai isn't a dork!"

"But he's short and he failed the test for Todai three times," the girl countered.

"But he made it in the fourth time," Shinobu insisted. The two girls stared each other down until they did something that Ren wouldn't have imagined: they broke down into an infectious giggle that had the whole table giggling.

The first girl to speak was the first to stop giggling. She had a brilliant idea that she verbalized when everyone calmed down. "Hey," she started, "Why don't we all go to Shinobu's house and fix Rin up like we fixed Shinobu? Maybe it'll impress this mysterious man she wont tell us about?" The other girls nodded in agreement.

Ren thought, _What__ the hell does fix mean?_ in alarm. She had seen enough animals get 'fixed' to make her wary. Shinobu was also wary, but for a different reason.

_I wonder if Naru-sempai is still upset with me? I hope she lets us use her make-up again._ Naru had been all but happy to let her silly friends make a clown out of her that Keitaro ended up laughing at (and subsequently flying off into LEO after making her cry), and she had unbelievable talent in the art. Shinobu hoped that she still wouldn't be upset with her. Otherwise, they would have to ask Motoko's older sister Tsuroko, but she was a little extreme…

(-)

After getting permission from their parents, Shinobu's friends, Shinobu and Ren made their way to Shinobu's room. After giving everyone her famous snacks, they went up to Naru's room to see if she would cooperate.

_Maybe she won't be able to say no after she sees how badly we need her?_ Shinobu thought as she rapped on her screen door.

"Come in," a resigned voice said. Shinobu slowly opened the door. She was shocked to see what she found though: Naru's room was clean! Of all the years that Shinobu had been maintaining the Hinata-sou, this was a first.

"Sempai, we were wondering if you would help make-up my friend from school?" Shinobu asked meekly. Naru looked away from her study materials and scanned the group. When she registered the new face, she gave a small tired smile and said, "Sure. I needed a break anyway."

The girls let out the breath they had been holding (They were informed of Naru's demeanor when they were snacking) and piled in. They sat scattered about the room while Naru brought her stuff out. As she rummaged to her things, Shinobu took notice of how haggard she looked. Her eyes were puffy and she actually had wrinkles about her face. The room was dark when they came in, but Naru opened the shades to reveal how depressing her room really was. It just didn't seem the same without the mess. Shinobu felt a wave of guilt wash over her as she remembered how mean she had been to Naru by deliberately hurting her.

Naru put the kit on the floor and said in creepy voice, "And who's today's victim?" she pretended no to know it was Ren. Ren had a disturbed look on her face and eyed the kit warily. She couldn't see inside of it, but it looked like she thought that it contained knives, hammers and syringes. The girls slowly prodded her forward and Naru got to work. The other girls took stuff out of the box-o-evil and added their own 'enhancements.'

Shinobu was styling one of Ren's fingernails and decided to take a break. She was putting a lot of work and detail into it and her eyes got tired from the strain. She scooted back so that the girl next to her had easier access to the nail she was working on herself. Shinobu closed her eyes for a few moments. When she opened them, she saw Naru sitting behind Ren, who looked like she was being mobbed, doing her hair. Much of the wrinkles had magically disappeared, and she was humming something to herself as she worked her magic, a small smile adorning her face.

She looked every bit the big sister Shinobu had always thought of her as. Smiling to herself, she scooted back into position and started where she left off.

After such a long time, things seemed to settle into a small microcosm of normalcy.

(-)

Ren felt like a fool. She felt like one of those bourgeoisie women whom she had heard stories of that were painted and displayed as if they were ornaments. And it frustrated her how true the notion probably was. She wasn't used to make-up, gossiping and soft things like this. She was a well-oiled machine, ready to bolt out of anywhere whenever she felt something was amiss.

And boy, did things feel amiss right about now. When the mob had finished their pillage, she looked at herself in the mirror. If it weren't her, she would have been laughing…

Actually, her hair was done well, but she thought that maybe they had put too much of whatever they used on her face. It was so shiny and not the proper pasty yellow it normally was. She liked her fingernails. They had sanded them down into cute little ovals and painted pictures on them with remarkable detail. They also gave her what they called a _Kimono_ (7) supplied by Shinobu. It was hard not to feel overwhelmed by the (girlyness). They bid farewell to the older tenant named Naru and went back to Shinobu's room where they played some ridiculous game where Ren was a helpless princess captured by some villain and Shinobu was her prince charming…

As all the girls waved goodbye, Ren started to disrobe from the uncomfortable _Kimono_ she had been forced to wear. Shinobu, however, stopped her and convinced her that she should at least take it home and show it off to the guy that she liked. Ren had no choice, since Shinobu hid her street clothes as blackmail. Ren walked back home after the tiring day and made her way to her room. She sat down in Keitaro's seat and realized that he hadn't come home yet. Worried a little, she went to the kitchen to make something for him while she tried to bide the time. She had already finished her homework with her friends (something that sounded strange coming from her lips after all this time) and really had nothing better to do.

Keitaro arrived not long after she set the dish on his table and sat on the bed. When he opened the door, he greeted her with a "Tadaima," to which she responded with its complement. He took notice of the abnormality and came to notice her apparel.

_Maybe he'll do something else besides grunt for once? _Ren thought, making the best of the situation. To her infinite pleasure, he did.

"You look nice," he said, the first words he had said directly to her in weeks. She didn't really care that there was an edge of amusement to the appraisal; her face lit up and she was holding him in an embrace before her mind caught up to her body.

"Arigato…" she said quietly, trying to make the moment last as long as she could. They stood there silently for a while, until Keitaro stirred.

"Would you like to go to the park?" he asked warily. She let go of him, warranting a confused look on his part.

"Really?" she said with uncontained eagerness, her wide eyes scanning his face to make sure that it was he who made the proposal.

"Sure," he said.

"But the fish will go to waste," she thought out loud. She snapped her hands to her mouth in an instant and looked at him to see what he would say.

He had a small grin on his face and said, "I'll leave it in the fridge and eat it later." Glad that he wasn't going to cancel the trip on account of her slip up, she started changing out of the ridiculous outfit she was in and went into something more casual. She hadn't really thought about the fact the she changed while Keitaro was conscious, but found that he was taking his time putting her dish away.

"Curses," she said to herself and washed her face in the bathroom.

Instead of taking his car to the park, they walked. He didn't say anything to her the whole time and she was too afraid that she might say something that would ruin everything. To her disappointment, even though he was walking right next to her, hand in hand, his gaze was off to some other place and time.

Not to her surprise, they didn't do anything but walk. She asked him if she could have an ice cream from a vendor, and he got one for both of them. She led them to a short wall that they both sat on while they ate; Ren kicked her legs like the young person she was. She glanced at him every now and then, but was disappointed every time to find him staring into the almost setting sun.

When the sun started to set, they came back to Keitaro's room. Ren came to the conclusion that he would never see her in the way she wanted him to; not anytime soon at least. But she decided to content herself with the fact that he seemed to acknowledge her presence now. _But I'll still keep on trying,_ she thought while watching him work at his study. As usual, his head slammed down onto his desk, but he didn't get up this time. After a few minutes of staying silent, Ren could hear him breathing softly. Curious as to the change in behavior, she quietly walked up to his desk. She peered forward to look at his face.

She was stunned at how cute he looked.

He was sleeping on the side of his face; drool was slowly inching down the corner of his mouth to the table's surface. His face no longer had the familiar tension on it. She had never known till now that he had a baby face. He must have been dreaming well, since he didn't have the scowl he normally had when she woke up to see him. Instead, a small smile adorned his lips, exposing creases at the corners associated with a person who smiled a lot. He had a few creases starting to form between his eyebrows, so he probably had been a very happy person until recently.

Ren put her hands on the edge of the table and rested her chin on it. She stared at his content form for a ridiculously long time, until she decided that he wouldn't wake up. With strength that only comes from working in a farm, she managed to put him on the bed where he normally slept. He must have been really tired, because he didn't even make a sound as she moved him. She slipped into her baby blue pajamas and turned off the single light in the room, then made her way to her side of the bed. She got on gingerly, as if the tiniest disturbance might have woken him up, but she was reassured by his steady breathing that that had not become the case.

Normally, they would have their own, seperate blankets and they would go up to about stomach level. Ren had heard from one of the girls that winter was going to start soon, so she decided to make a change to the current arrangement. She layered their blankets on top of each other so that it was now two layers thick, and covered both of them to the neck.

Then, as if to see how far she could go before she got in trouble, she rolled to her side so that she was touching Keitaro, and put her arm across his chest. Surprisingly, he responded and drew her into his chest with a warm embrace just like their first night together. Even though it was dark, Ren could tell that she was blushing because of the excess heat coming from her cheeks. She didn't mind though, and snuggled into his warm embrace, his soft breaths tickling her exposed earlobe. As the subtle caress of sleep overcame her, she thought she heard him whimper a single (familiar sounding) word, with the same kind of longing that she had for him.

It sounded like _Naru_…

(O)

_ "So, Kei-kun, what are we studying today?" she asked, sitting next to him, making casual arm contact. He blushed and replied, "English is my next worst subject."_

_ "Okay, lets go over the basics just to be sure," she said and reached forward to get her materials. Keitaro couldn't help but memorize each of her perfect curves._

_ She seemed to have noticed him staring, since she said with a giggle, "I thought we were studying English?"_

Keitaro blushed even more and said, "I'm sorry…" 

(-)

The world dissolved and came back to the more familiar dark emptiness he had gotten used to.

"Why does she torment me in my dreams? Why wont she just let me have my peace!" Zombie Keitaro screamed to the void. Even after he had forsaken her, the promise girl was invading the only haven he had left in this world. He held himself in his arms and cried for the first time in a very long time. Some time later, in what felt like an instant but was an eternity, he felt another presence.

"Why are you crying?" it asked in a comforting voice. It sounded like it actually cared. Zombie Keitaro looked up to find his mirror image staring back at him. He was about to tell him to go away, but he stopped. This mirror was different- and familiar.

He didn't have cold eyes.

He wasn't plotting against him.

He wasn't another substitute.

…

It was Keitaro. It was all he used to stand for. It was everything he used to be before this horrible mess started. It was the Keitaro that was so much stronger than he was now.

"Is it that bad?" it asked in a troubled tone.

Zombie Keitaro didn't talk to him for a while. He watched him for a few minutes, before he said, "Don't I scare you? Aren't you repulsed by my horrid self?" He knew what he would say and knew how he would just leave him by himself again. They were all the same: if they couldn't use you, you meant nothing to them.

"Why would you scare me?" the mirror replied. Zombie Keitaro was shocked. "Why do you think so lowly of yourself?" if questioned, becoming sad. "Why?"

Keitaro didn't speak; he only looked down in shame. _Why… Why? WHY!_

"Why…" Keitaro repeated "… I don't know… but I just can't see why I should try anymore. No one loves me. I hate everyone else. The only way I can stand the torture anymore is to just cut myself off from everyone!" Keitaro said, his hands enclosing his head as if he were in pain. He shut his eyes closed as horrific images of the abuse and pain flashed through him mind. The mirror stayed quiet. No doubt it had left after his outburst. No one wanted to listen to a baby like him whine.

He felt something around his shoulders. He opened his eyes to find the mirror staring back at him through a pool of tears. Keitaro was about to speak, but the mirror spoke first.

"You're not alone. Don't you _dare _think you have to do this alone! There are so many people out there that will help you. The Chinese girl, Shinobu, Haruka, Grandma, our parents, the girls, and the promise girl…"

Keitaro automatically pushed back against the mirror, realizing that he was just out to feed him lies.

"SHUT UP!" he screamed, putting a look of shock on its face. "Those girls hate me! They hate me as much as I hate them!" he spat. The mirror put his hands to his face, as if to protect itself from the verbal assault. "And that _promise girl…_" he said, as if saying a curse. "She's just a figment of my imagination. No girl has ever loved me or _ever_ will!"

The mirror wouldn't stand anymore of this and did the unexpected. "Don't you _ever_ speak like that about any of them!" it yelled. "Those girls love you. They're your family. There's no way that they'd ever hate you unless you were to blame!"

Keitaro was about to cite many examples when the girls blamed him for something that wasn't his fault, but was beat to it.

"And what made you think that the promise girl isn't real!" he said, looking angry for the first time. "She's there! Trust me, she's out there and all she wants is to finally meet you. You may not remember her, but she remembers you. And if you don't meet each other before hand, you both will _definitely_ meet at Todai! It's my promise to you. Now stop making excuses and pull yourself together! Do you think anyone wants to go out with you like this? No! You have to be a strong person, Keitaro! It's always been our strength to never give up and now isn't the time to stop. I don't know what's caused you to say those things about our girls, but it can't possibly be a good enough a justification."

The mirror just stared into his eyes, burning disappointment through them. After a few moments, Keitaro relented. He expected to be scolded by the mirror after his admission to defeat, but he was met again with caring eyes.

"Its okay…" it said. "You don't have to hold back anymore."

"Hold back? Hold back what?" Keitaro said with a puffed up chest. The other Keitaro just stared back at him with those caring eyes, penetrating his very soul. He took one of his hands and pulled Keitaro's head in, resting Keitaro's head against its own.

"Just let it all out…" he said, rubbing Keitaro's back with his other hand. Keitaro just stood in that intimate position for a long time. Before long, he found himself bawling without even thinking about it.

And the more he cried, the less heavy his chest felt. Unknowns to him, his zombie like body was also repairing itself.

"What the hell are you doing!" the second, more familiar copy shouted, storming in from nowhere. Before the first copy could get to its feet (Keitaro wondered how it would be possibly to fall if there wasn't anything to stand on in the first place. But he had already had that conversation before with a copy of himself once, so he didn't think too much on it), the second copy punched him and the first copy vaporized.

"God damn it, first that stupid bitch and now him…" the second copy thought out loud, angrily. He turned to suddenly look at Keitaro.

"And you! What the hell are you still asleep for! Pretend that this never happened, and WAKE YOUR LAZY ASS UP!"

(-)

Keitaro got up with a jolt. Of all the dreams he'd had, that was the strangest. _What was I dreaming?_ he thought when he realized he couldn't remember it at all. He just shrugged and went about his daily routine. As usual, the Chinese girl had gone off to school. Well… he didn't really know if she went to school or not, but that wasn't his business, was it?

_Come to think of it, why is she still here?_ a part of him thought. His mind played back when they had first met and his initial reaction to her.

He lightly scratched the back of his ear.

"I suppose it can't be helped that she's following me around now," he thought out loud, coming to the conclusion after remembering her admission back in Todai. _Wouldn't it be ironic if she ended up going to Todai too?_ He cracked a small smile, but it disappeared into the normal stoic face he seemed to carry nowadays. He supposed he should be getting ready to go to class.

While he had breakfast, he mused over how there always seemed to be strangers in Yuri's house. He then got to thinking, _I wonder why Yuri puts up with them?_

He had more thoughts along that line, and finally came to a startling revelation. _Why does his dad put up with it? Come to think of it… I've never seen his dad come to the place ever._ He shrugged to himself again as he left his finished breakfast on the table. Before he left the kitchen, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that one of those men took his dishes and cleaned them. Keitaro didn't think of it much. He went into his now familiar Elise and started the engine. _Someone was nice enough to fill up the tank again,_ he thought. He wasn't really sure why these strangers gave him such courtesy, but he didn't mind. He pulled out of the garage without a second thought.

(O)

She watched him pull out of the garage as if it were any other day. She smiled at his naivety. Without making another sound, she started the long awaited op.

(O)

Shinobu was a bit anxious. Rin, as all the girls had nicknamed Ren, hadn't arrived at school today. She wanted to know what had happened, but was too shy to give her a call. Instead, she decided that she would bake some cookies and pay her a surprise visit, since she lived close by. Before she left, she wrote a letter as to where she was going, and left the Hinata-sou with a bright smile on her face.

It was the late afternoon when Shinobu walked up to the mansion that Rin lived in, played ever part the Little Riding Hood that she seemed to play the role of for today. Where her wolf was, time would tell, however.

She rang the doorbell once and waited patiently, all the while wondering if Rin would like her cookies. When no one answered for a minute or so, Shinobu gave another ring. Still, no one answered. She got impatient and started rapping the door, but it opened. Shinobu hesitated for a second, but decided to go in, in the end. She took a step forward and said, "Hello… is anyone here?" Getting no response, she continued searching the mansion.

After half an hour of searching, she found no one. The whole place was deserted, as if no one had ever lived there. There weren't any signs of people occupying the place either; everything looked brand new and shiny and things were too neat to have been under daily use.

Shinobu was stumped. Had she gone to the wrong house?

(O)

Finishing his only morning class, Keitaro went to the school's only eating area. As usual, the vendor gave him whatever he wanted without asking for anything in return. Such behavior would normally seem suspicious, even to the naïve Keitaro from a seemingly other life, but Keitaro knew different. The strange men that occupied Yuri's house always shadowed him while at school. It had taken a while to notice them, but when he did, they stood out like the North Star. Today, he was being followed by a trio was composed of all three classes of height.

When he sat in his usual spot, he was surprised to find a letter taped to the table. Somewhat curious, he opened it up to read while he ate. It only had one line.

Pick up the phone near the men's bathroom at noon if you want to see Ren alive again.

Keitaro stared at the letter for a while, till he set it down. He ate his lunch like normal, until he realized that he was no longer alone. He looked to his right and saw one of the men who were shadowing him, the one that was about his height, sitting next to him and reading the letter. As if talking about a recent test question, Keitaro asked, "So, who's this Ren?"

The man looked at him in surprise. When he saw that Keitaro was serious, he explained, "She's that Chinese girl you sleep with."

"Oh," Keitaro said simply. He went back to eating his sandwich. The man stared at him with a disbelieving look. Annoyed, Keitaro said, "What?"

"Are you just going to eat your sandwich while that girl dies?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Aren't you even a little scared that this girl you've been sleeping with might not be there again?"

"Well… when you put it that way…" Keitaro said. _These winter nights are getting colder…_ he thought. Taking another bite out of his sandwich, he said, "What time is it, um…"

"Azuka," the man filled in. "You have ten minutes till the deadline."

"Good," Keitaro said. "I can finish my lunch in five." And with that said, he continued eating his sandwich. He scratched behind his ear.

(-O-)

Character/Psych Profiles and forecasts of all major characters used thus far (all forecasts assume everything stays the same as the middle of this chapter):

Keitaro:

Since he is the main character, character development mainly focuses around him, so I will not elaborate on him this section. I would like to say, as a defense for my awkward insertion of the racing scenes, that they were intended to be a way for Keitaro to get drunk (with power), and distract him from the downward spiral that he thinks is his life. Ren seems to be the embodiment of everything that has happened to him, so she fits in very nicely with him, especially towards the end of the story.

Ren:

The newest and second Chinese character to appear in the cast. She is a survivor. She had a semblance of normalcy under Communist rule back in China, but she has gone through one traumatic experience after another since the death of her father.

As a character, I don't like her. She screws up the story very much, especially the next chapter. My intention was for Keitaro do dump her at the Chinese embassy and never look back. I still regret the other decision I had made for the short term, but she seems to be very promising for the story line in the long term. However problematic her introduction is, I cannot ignore the richness to plot she will give in the second phase of TOM.

Ren is Keitaro's new Shinobu. Though the only time they really spoke was when he was in near hysteria, she has grown fond of/ attached to him. Superficially, it would seem irresponsible for the author to randomly ass a character that fell in love with him. But bear this in mind- for nearly a year, every person that she has come in contact with has hurt, used or violated her in come way. She has not opened herself up to anyone probably since before the flood that raped her village, up till the time with Keitaro (to some extent). She had left herself in a vulnerably state and needed some kind of emotional ground (or anchor) with which to steady herself. She really wanted someone to comfort her to help shoulder her pain and is in the impression that Keitaro actually cares for her. It is obviously not the case, but since she doesn't see evidence that proves otherwise, she distorts reality to make it more accommodating for her. However, as this chapter clearly shows, Keitaro has, in essence, emotionally cut himself off from the real world in an unconscious defense mechanism to the whirlwind of emotions that have been brewing inside, and lives only for the sake of living. In a matter of speaking, he is simply on autopilot. He follows his daily routine and acts on instinct.

It should be evident from the way she thinks that Ren is a full-fledged communist. She was schooled by the Reds when she was younger, and their philosophy is deeply ingrained within her. She looks down her nose at all things Japanese (actually, anything not Chinese), but is slowly learning to adapt. She is suspicious of everyone but Keitaro.

She will probably commit suicide when she realizes that Keitaro does not care for her.

Su/Sarah:

I tried my best not to change them as much as I could during the story. They are very young and easily adept at change. A week is a long time for them and they have comfortably situated themselves in their new reality.

I think Su is lesbian. I have no doubts that she is at least bisexual, simply because she is open to things. I think this is the consensus among writers, since I see stories of her being like that often. It shouldn't be surprising that Su and Sarah were experimenting in the confined, intimate tunnel network throughout the Hinata-sou.

Sarah isn't comfortable with the relationship she has with Su, but she is not rejecting it either. She will grow up to be a very strong businesswoman, because of the nerve she will grow from her later expeditions with her father. She will follow her father's legacy as a hobby.

Su will eventually take the throne after most of her family will be assassinated from a civil way. Her expertise will lead her country to a technological revolution that will soon specter that of Japan and China.

Shinobu:

I think its no secret that I like Shinobu the most among the Hina Girls. What I like adout her is how caring, nice and shy she is. She actually seems to be the female version of my childhood self, though I had become much more disillusioned than she is. I think that since we come from the same place, it is much easier for me to connect with her and write in her point of view than any of the other characters.

From the first time you meet her (either in thee anime or manga, though I base her personality on the anime and her experiences from the manga), Shinobu has been frustratingly fragile. (The Anime) Shinobu had been overcome by the sudden dissallusionment of her family, and desperately sought someone for an emotionally ground, just like Ren. The picture that Keitaro drew of her, and the display of caring and affection, instantly drew her to him. As a child, she was easy in giving her fully trust to a complete stranger.

Throughout her adventures throughout the anime, Shinobu became a major player in the fruitation of the finale. Her influence in keeping Keitaro from deep bouts of depression was most emphasized in the Christmas special, where she searched the needle in a haystack for Keitaro. He unwavering faith for the love between Keitaro and Naru, no matter how much it was against her own interests, ended the episode with Naru finally giving some substance on her end for her affection for Keitaro. If I had been Ken, I would surely have made Shinobu the Hina girl that prevailed for the heat of the Kanrinin.

From the beginning of TSTBTPB, I messed up her character. I made her too old mentally, and much more physically. The Shinobu portrayed here is based around the lovesick girl you find towards the end of the manga. I have reread a lot of the earlier volumes in attempts to transition to a Shinobu that would be more appropriate for this stage of the Hina world's time stream (I didn't know till this chapter that the manga version of her was a child of only 14!), but the version of Shinobu that emerged seemed to work best with the flow of TOM, in my humble opinion.

The Shinobu portrayed has finally come face to face with her budding sexuality. Kitsune's tremendous, but always subtle wisdom was expressed in chapter 8 when she gave Shinobu a vibrator as a present. It may also be part of the reason why Shinobu has since distanced herself from Su. Shinobu has blossomed into a normal teenage middle school student. She has passed the bottleneck that welcomes all children to the blazing highway called popularity. She has a small, close group of friends that will no doubt follow her through high school and possibly remain her loyal posse. Though it saddens me to say so, her naivety will leave her susceptible to betrayal, and she will soon be immersed with the complicated rules and etiquette of petty high school politics as her reputation becomes ever more famous. She will undoubtedly become deflowered at a young age and join the workforce after she completes high school or earlier. Such is the impact of the sudden uprooting of Keitaro from her life and her parents' divorce.

Shortly following the final chapter of TOM, she will care more about herself and what people think about her in school to fill the void that was occupied by her healthy obsession with her _Sempai_. She will lose her selflessness and become more conceited. Probably by high school, she will no longer even talk to Su or Sarah and be the subject of much scorn during the private talks that occur within the high school and the Hinata-sou, partly because of jealousy, and partly because of her behavior.

I hope, however, that she will endeavor with her culinary skills, because they will be her only ability in her possession that will stand between succumbing to the social cesspool that Kitsune seemed to be a part of in most of the anime/manga and leading a full, happy life with someone she loves. And have a lot of children, too…

Motoko:

Three words describe her best: sword, breasts and ass.

Motoko was largely based on the anime. Her present version in TOM (Motoko XP) that this chapter portrayed is a very extreme version of her. The little femininity that she slowly accrues during the anime does not permeate as strongly as in the manga, and what little did, Motoko has squashed it within herself.

She has been taught the way of _Bushido_ since childhood and largely practiced it when she first came into the scene. Her rock solid belief in its ways faltered as time went on as her body responded to Keitaro's presence, resulting in the budding of her femininity and her sloppy work. Though she would never admit that the process was ongoing, it was manifested in her struggle to come to terms with her enlarging bosom. In the manga, her focus became divided between Kendo and writing risqué romance stories. Her skills suffered greatly, attenuated by the fact that Keitaro managed to stop her blade with his bare hands.

In TOM, she was finally alerted to how bad her skills had become after her loss in the duel with Keitaro and his fledgling powers. After his surprising display of infuriation when she was about to commit _seppoku _in response to her loss, she has completely given her life to _Bushido._ Her present level of seriousness is very scary, and her friends and fan club have since started to estrange themselves from her, though they still chat every once in a while at the regular kendo club meets.

In terms of character development, I don't think she'd grown at all. I think she's receded into a streamlined _Samurai_, one that is very boring and predictable. She is getting more powerful everyday ad will far surpass her sister at the age in which she was at her peek. Though Motoko has discarded her adaptations to modern culture, she still retains the physical and emotional changes brought about by puberty (which is best embodied by the actor who plays er voice in the anime, since she cracked a lot). To relieve her sexual tensions, she secretly discos under the alias Kiki, since she has no inspiration to make writing stories substantial to that effect.

Motoko will become a prominent figure among her clan, having a reputation of being a cold, efficient killer. She will be content for the majority of her matriarchy, until she will kill a man with whom she will realize she had loved. She will regret that decision till the day she dies.

Haruka:

The anomaly. She stays in the background, quietly influencing people and events to control the damage brought about by her nephew. A major player in more ways than one, her influence has stopped many a travesty.

She will live a quiet life, unless she decides to marry Seta when he proposes by the time he has to choose between Sarah's mom and she.

Mutsumi:

Popular among the upperclassmen. Known for her looks, smarts, niceness and naivety, she will no doubt bag some rich guy and make him a loving and faithful wife. Built for a maximum of 22 births, slightly more than her mother.

She is a very mature woman who has more energy than most. Though she (probably) loves Keitaro, she will not get in the way between Kei-kun and Na-chan and will endeavor to fulfill their childhood promise. Though things may seem (somewhat) shaky between the two, she will never give up on her struggle against fate. Like Haruka, she works in the background and rarely shows her cards.

Do _not_ underestimate her.

Mitsune:

Vixen is the best word for her. She used to be a waste of life who lived at the bottom of the bottle. Her sole means of monetary income was through conning men and her dearly beloved _Kanrinin_. Since her con gone wrong with Keitaro early in TSTBTPB/TOM, she has done some soul searching as to where her life was going and how it would all end. The reason for the drastic change was the she had always thought that if she would have been molested, it wouldn't be from a harmless gnat like Keitaro, and thought that he had always understood her games and merely games. Seeing that she had gone so far as to make a person whom she had thought a friend react like that, Kitsune finally decided to clean herself up and shed the high school girl that always had to clean up after Naru's wooers. She has been thinking hard on things from angry mother to zucchini and has been writing many thought provoking books. She will eventually become a popular author who will have a part in the patriotism that will save Japan from being caught unprepared by an unprovoked Chinese attack.

In the end, she will stay loyal to Naru and help her through thick and thin. She will help her into transitioning into the dating phase once again, and make her stronger against being, and the thought of being rejected.

Naru:

Known by most for her hot temper, Naru has always been a sweet girl that just has been unable to express herself. She exposes her cute side to those that are close to her and projects a tough exterior to the world. Strong, sexy and smart, she had grown to become an independent woman with clear goals in mind, and the means to achieve them. Though she seems an unapproachable woman, she is very fragile and needs an emotionally strong and pure lover to keep her happy. That is probably what drew her to Keitaro, but she had been too afraid to act on her emotions.

Before TOM, she was a very proud woman brought to her knees because of herself. She has always been afraid of rejection and thought that if she never made anything official with Keitaro, things would stay as happy as they were and that she would never have to worry about it. She has yet to come to terms with her rejection at the racetrack, and has been contemplating suicide for some time.

Fortunately for her, she has been getting close to her family, and leaning on Mei, her younger stepsister. Through the ordeal that has since ensued, her familial bonds have grown very strong and have been the key emotional ground from keeping her from the edge of the knife. Her bond with Kitsune has never been stronger and she has been a very important confidant. This part of her life will always mark her and will give her the strength to run for president.

(She will be the first female president of Japan, ironically ensuring a peaceful and sustainable culture for generations)

Sakura:

(Shudder)

Evil spawn from hell; she is the kind of girl that all mothers, daughters, female cousins and friends tell all guys to stay away from. She has the mind of a super villain and strives for power.

Though she is young, she is skill in the arts of human psychology and is notorious among the Yakuza's ranks for getting what she wants from whomever she wants. Though on the outside, she seems a cute, fragile girl, she is an intimidating person. Very few challenge her, even her father.

It shouldn't be surprising to anyone that her mother has either died or divorced her father. And that he was a drunk at that time and started molesting her at a young age. She has been raised on the streets and knows all of its rules. She has the makings of a strong ruler under any kingdom and the will to keep it growing.

Except for the fact that she is a rich (and what people assume) stuck up daddy's girl, there isn't much known about her personality except for the S&M part. She is a dominant person, but she wants to be the recessive, which is probably why she is so obsessed with TOM's Keitaro, since he was really the only person to ever push her around.

(O)

(1) Kang: primitive heating apparatus common among Chinese villagers. I'm not really certain as to how it works, but I know that you can sit on it…

(2) Lychee: Asian fruit. It has a seed at the core, covered by whitish sweetened fleshy matter covered by a very thin, tough outside skin. Highly recommended.

(3) Gaijin: foreigner. Like me. 'Nuff said.

(4) Giri: rice balls like that stuff Naru made for Keitaro early in Volume 1 of the manga. Hers were much neater.

(5) _Bushido_: the way of the samurai. Portrayed very well in the movie, The Last Samurai.

(6) Kanrinin: manager, Keitaro's position in the Manga and Anime.

(7) Kimono: female Japanese formalwear. It's the thing with the ridiculously large sash that wraps around their waist with a sophisticated bow tied at the back. (I don't really know what it is, just what I have seen over the years, though I doubt anyone who is a Love Hina fan isn't familiar with it)

I was supposed to discard the Chinese character within a few lines of the first scene with Keitaro in it. But then the rusty wheels in the back of my head started turning and I found that she would become very useful down the line…

Well… that was lengthy.

**Remember; click the 'Go' button on your way out. (Flames are still understandable and especially welcome if critical)**

**Cheers: )**


	11. The Frog and the Fly V2

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Fourteen:** The Frog and the FlyV2

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

**Disclaimer: **_See Chapter Four_

New notes below…

(-O-)

I saw a frog eat a fly on my way to Kyoto. I didn't think much of it then, since it is a pretty common sight. But I realized something now that I think about it. Is it really a show of how the strong lords over the weak, how all of nature appears to be ordained? Or is it something less brutal?

What N.N. has been going through since K.U. left has changed my view on that. Its not that the strong lord over the weak, but that the weak let themselves be oppressed.

-_From the Bottom of the Bottle_, by Konno Mitsune.

(O)

It was about noon and Kitsune had finished the latest chapter of her new book that dealt with experiences she had when she had toured the country. She was amazed at how many thoughts, ponderings and ideas she had come up with on her journey. No one was at the Inn at this time except for Amalla, but she was out buying groceries, so she decided to take a nap until everyone got back and the place got livelier. As she passed by Keitaro's old room, she heard a noise. She stopped for a second and heard it again. She popped her head into the room, but found that it was empty. But she heard the noise again. When she heard it another time, she realized it was coming from the room above.

"I wonder why Naru's still here?" Mitsune thought out loud. She went upstairs to investigate.

"Naru?" Mitsune said, popping her head into the room.

"Oof!" the girl exclaimed as she dropped something heavy. Kitsune walked in to find that the floor was covered in packed boxes, leaving the room bare.

"What's going on in here?" Kitsune asked, taken entirely by surprise. "If I didn't know any better, I would swear it looks like you're moving!"

That Naru looked away was all the answer she needed.

"You can't be serious!" Kitsune said, throwing her hands in the air. "How are you going to get to your classes on time from your house? You're late enough leaving from Hinata-sou as it is."

When Naru wouldn't answer, Mitsune felt like popping her ass.

"You're dropping out of Todai!" she said in fury. She grabbed hold of her friend's shoulder and shook her to force some sense into her. "What could possibly compel you to drop out of the most prestigious institutions to grace this planet?" The look Naru gave her told her everything, but Naru obliged her this time by spelling it out.

"I just can't stand it anymore! Every time I see him, he looks at me like I murdered his parents! I can't even concentrate on my classes anymore. It's just too much for me. Besides, I've already applied to NIT and they already accepted me with a full scholarship."

Mitsune looked hurt. She felt hurt, betrayed even. She had never known Naru to do something like this behind her back. But then, Mitsune knew something that Naru didn't.

"You didn't even tell any of us," she said sadly, trying to find some other way to convince the girl to stay without using her ace.

"Mitsune," Naru started, but stopped. When she started again, she said, "Please don't make this harder than it is…" Naru had looked at her with completely vulnerable eyes, like when she first told Mitsune about her crush on Seta. Realizing that there really was no other way around it, Mitsune dropped the bomb.

"Its you, you're the girl," she said, taking a step back. She wrapped her arms around herself protectively and looked away from Naru. "I heard Mutsumi say it."

"What do you mean?" Naru said reproachfully. She suddenly felt that she should be careful with her words.

"Dammit Naru!" Mitsune said, snapping her head to face her friend once again. "You're the promise girl! You're the girl Keitaro's been chasing after!"

Naru took a step back, as if someone had thrown a knife at her chest. Her hand went on top of her heart to keep it from leaping out.

"W-what did you say?" she said, still disbelieving.

_God forgive me…_

"You're the girl Keitaro made his promise to so long ago, Naru. Your place is by his side." Kitsune waited for her to respond. It wasn't as good as she had hoped.

"Mitsune, what have I done?" Naru said in despair. Kitsune was confused as to what she meant, but Naru clarified. "I-I drove him away from me… what did I do, Mitsune!" She had her arms in front of her protectively, but she fell to her knees.

"Naru…" Mitsune said, but the girl started bawling. Kitsune went down and lent her a shoulder to cry on.

(O)

Colonel Kassquit, SRDF: Would say you that a bad influence Keitaro has been the Hinata-sou to?

Mitsune: No, not really.

Kassquit: Then summarize what way would be the best about the relationship between Urashima and under his charge females?

Mitsune: Hmm… I would say he was like a… big brother. He was very protective of us and helped us out a lot.

Kassquit: Then beaten why was he constantly? Sense this no makes, agree?

Mitsune: Well, you probably won't understand, but it was a way of… expressing affection.

Kassquit: Affection say you, but to me seems harassment, it.

Mitsune: It does, doesn't it, hahaa… well, it was the only way anyone could be intimate with him without publicly admitting they liked him. Naru and Motoko were the ones that "hit on him" the most.

Kassquit: What of this Naru? Relationship with him what is?

Mitsune: Well, those two are your classic case of Romeo and Juliet in some strange way. They have this thing from their childhood that has them connected and all, though Naru would probably never believe it when Keitaro first showed up.

Kassquit: What of relationship with you and him?

Mitsune: Keitaro and I… let me see… I guess I've always thought of him as a younger brother. I always tease him a lot like that.

Kassquit: If speak to him to did again, what say you?

Mitsune: What would I say? I'd have to thank him of course! I'd be drinking my life away instead of writing if it weren't for him.

(O)

Mutsumi felt guilty. She never meddled with people's lives like this, but it had to be done. Naru had gotten more depressed day by day and she had finally decided to drop out of Todai. Mutsumi knew that there was still hope in patching up the relationship between Keitaro and Naru, but it would die if she quit.

So, she made sure that Kitsune would see Naru packing before she left. She assumed that Kitsune had eavesdropped on her that day with Haruka and that she would drop the bomb. She wanted to do it herself, but Naru would be more furious about learning it from her so late in the game, than hearing through her best friend. Making another disappointed sigh, she went to her next class.

(O)

Keitaro looked at his vanity mirror for a second or two. He stroked his face and remarked at how he was finally growing man-hair on it. He thought it was a bit puzzling that he was growing fuzz after all these years. _Maybe I'm finally having a growth spurt!_ he remarked to himself. His pants did seem a bit shorter everyday.

Keitaro shut the mirror and casually cruised out of the student parking lot. Shadowing him was an armed caravan of Yakuza soldiers in a mix of motorcycles and cars. The farther he went, the bigger his train grew. And the bigger the distance became between him and normal traffic. By the time he got on the highway, there were three cars and two bikes tailing him.

He didn't know what the fuss was all about. He had only been issued a challenge for a duel that was obviously an ambush. The worst that could happen was that he'd get hurt. Or killed. He looked at his rear view mirror. They were still trailing him. And they were starting to get annoying. Keitaro put his foot on the clutch.

Ten minutes later, he was on another highway. When he checked for them again, they weren't there. Since he never told them where he was going, they were bound to not bother him for a while. He thought that maybe it would have been useful to have backup, but every fight he'd had so far was essentially against a single opponent. The fights he had were very blurry, but he remembered that after every one of them, he felt more powerful than before. Just the other day, he dropped his pencil during class. When he reached down to grab it, it actually jumped into his hand!

He reached the exit he was supposed to take and followed the directions as if he were going to meet a friend. Of course, his car drew stares in the country/farm setting, but it wasn't because there was an armed caravan behind him this time.

The place he pulled up to was the classical ambush area. There was a wide, open plain that was surrounded by forest on three sides. The forest rose up to a mountain range, essentially leaving one way in or out of the plain, that being the direction that was behind him. He had no doubt that this "Akira" would probably approach him from there, so that he'd have no choice but to fight her.

He mused over what kind of powers she would have. His first true opponent was some street thug he didn't remember. The second was some woman that he couldn't put a face to that used daggers in a weird way. And his last opponent was an actual Ninja!

"Whoever she is, she must be amazing," Keitaro said to himself. The Yakuza had ceased all personal attacks on him since he started hunting them down, so it must have taken elephant sized balls to pull off this stunt.

"URASHIMA!" someone boomed nearby. Keitaro had been sitting on his hood, just watching the flowers sway gently till his thoughts were so rudely interrupted.

"URASHIMA KEITARO!" the voice boomed again.

Because of the snow, it was a little harder to discern where the voice came from, but it became obvious when Keitaro looked towards the snow covered mountain. There was a stranger in combat cold-wear holding the little Chinese girl he had come to know as Ren in a chokehold in front of herself; the poor girl looked blue from cold, no more energy left to try and escape anymore.

"Oi…" Keitaro yelled back, waving his arms at the person as if he was trying to get a friend's attention. "Wait a sec," he added, and went back into the car. A moment later, he came back sporting his own white parka, looking much less chilly.

Akira could only gape in shock at the rudeness, though luckily the face mask she wore covered her expression. How in the world could this man just up and leave the battle field, in a hostage situation nonetheless, to get a jacket? _Oh… he'll pay…_ Akira thought angrily, realizing that his action was just really a statement. _The nerve of this guy…_ she continued_, showing his back to me. Just exactly who does he think he's dealing with?_

"So," Keitaro said, actually walking up to her and rapidly closing the distance, "how are we doing this?"

_What the hell? _Akira thought, flustered. _What's with this sudden change in attitude? He's nothing like what my observations from this month and previous battles implied…_ She calculatingly analyzed his face and was surprise to find… a big goofy smile!

_Where's the fire and brimstone? _Akira thought, completely surprised. _He should be acting like some kind of psychotic maniac! Where is that vicious monster that Azuka-sempai lost to?_

Her thoughts suddenly turned deadly at the reminder of her beloved teacher. The whole reason that she had been working so meticulously for the last few months was for only one purpose… to _KILL _Urashima. She had to hand it to him though; he must have been some master tactician to have broken her focus so thoroughly.

"Die!" she screamed, pulling out the silenced 9mm hidden behind her impromptu hostage. She squeezed three slugs with rehearsed accuracy; one to the forehead and two to the chest. Against a normal person, the combo would have ensured a kill. But Keitaro's upper body suddenly seemed to blur and the slugs flew past harmlessly. Akira grinned; yes, he was still an incredible opponent.

"Say…" Keitaro said, still calmly walking towards her at an easy rate, "you _do_ know that this was over before it started, don't you?"

"What do you mean?" Akira said coldly, buying time for her next move.

"Oh, you'll see," Keitaro said as he stepped just in front of her. "But I'd like her back, if you don't mind…"

"Sure," Akira said with an edge in her voice, and shoved the little Chinese whore roughly to its master. Keitaro caught the child with one arm and held it closely. It whimpered when it came back to consciousness, but started bawling tears of happiness when it saw exactly who was holding it.

_Disgusting…_ Akira thought, as she pushed a button on her glove. Almost instantly, Keitaro's head was suddenly lit up with red dots; the snowflakes falling around him radiated a soft red, giving the impression that Keitaro himself was glowing. Akira smiled as the sharp sounds of gunshots reached both of their ears. _Goodbye…_ she thought, imagining how his head would explode from the kinetic energy of so many sniper slugs.

But something was disturbingly off about all of it. Yes, she expected the little Chinese girl to stiffen up, and yes, she expected all the red dots to go haywire from the recoil. But she did not expect Keitaro to just continue staring at her hardened fibrous visor, as if he could see through it.

As expected, there was an explosion of snow that showered the area as the bullets impact made impact with the ground. Too anxious and frustrated to clean her visor, Akira quickly took off her mask, exposing the whole of her head. The snowdrift made its way into her raven black hair, as Akira tried to find the bloody remains.

But there weren't any.

Instead, off in the distance, she could see Keitaro gingerly putting the girl into his car and closing the door. She could see the Chinese girl trying to get out desperately, pleading for him to escape, but Keitaro just simply turned towards Akira and started walking her way. Frustrated that he was still alive, Akira ordered her snipers to fire again.

And she knew that Keitaro knew that she did.

But he still continued walking, his hands in his pockets; as if he were just normally walking home, trying to keep the cold of winter out.

The next wave of shots registered, but again, Keitaro had slipped off somewhere else in less than a blink of an eye.

"Oi…" Akira heard someone speak next to her, "this is getting really boring…"

With the speed of a well oiled killer, Akira had a hidden wrist dagger pointing where Keitaro's heart should have been. But the thing was… it wasn't. It was in thin air.

"What the hell!" Akira muttered, quickly scanning the area to find her bane. And there he was, calmly standing with his back against a tree, its foliage filtering all the snow, effectively blocking it from touching him.

"That's it!" she screamed in frustration. Keitaro had said something to her, but she could not hear him this time because of the thickening snow. "I want _everyone!_" she screamed into her radio. With her order given, the sounds of the machines of war resounded from within the forest. Akira had at least managed to bug Keitaro with a homing device so her underlings would not have a hard locating him. Out of nowhere, a stolen American Abrams tank rolled over the tree that Keitaro was standing against, literally flattening it into the snow covered ground. Its anti-personnel gun started cracking, when it became painfully obvious that Keitaro had suddenly managed to give the slip and ended up sitting on the tank itself, Indian style.

With the gun chewing slugs at him, Keitaro had to choose between being pumped full of lead or escaping, and decided with the latter. With the ridiculous skill of a ballerinast, Keitaro managed to actually avoid the hammer of not only the anti-personnel gun, but also the tank's main gun, while performing some kind of ballerina routine on the fly. Moving in a circle around the tank, the turret's rotation mechanism whined from excessive strain while the wasted ammonium turned the serene winter wonderland into a war zone.

Luckily, a missile got Keitaro by surprise and hurled him into a tree from the nearby tree line. He looked up to see the painfully quiet specter of a Comanche helicopter baring its exposed weapons array at him. Taking everyone by surprise, he somersaulted back on top of the Abrams as the Comanche fired another heat seeking missile at him. As the missile was about to explode, taking the Abrams with it in the process, Keitaro magically disappeared. The missile exploded, showering all with a blanket of snow.

When the extra snow settled, the Abrams stood where it was almost unscathed, a tribute to the American war machine. Akira, along with three Comanches and two Abrams, scanned the area, quickly trying to find Keitaro.

"Where'd he go!" Akira screamed over her radio to her snipers. She screamed again when they would not reply, but stopped when she felt that something was off again. Looking around her, she found that she was once again alone, the sounds of the war machines long silent.

_Tanks and helicopters just don't disappear like that…_ Akira thought, panicking. Suddenly, the forest next to went ablaze as the fire of the Abrams and Comanches ripped through it, instantly evaporating nearby snow and toppling age old trees. At first she thought that maybe they had gotten Keitaro when their guns died off, but something in the air made the hairs in the back of her neck stand. Suddenly feeling claustrophobic, Akira ran back to the clearing, certain someone was watching her.

The first thing to greet her was the charred form of Keitaro, his parka still on fire.

"Whew, that was close…" Keitaro said, as if he had just almost missed his train.

"Why won't you die!" Akira screamed, tears falling down her face as she stabbed forward with her combat knife.

That she had penetrated flesh shocked her; but the fact that Keitaro continued standing there, his goofy grin still adoring his face made her think that this was some sort of horrible nightmare.

She had penetrated up to the hilt of the knife, and she could feel his blood seeping through her glove, but he looked to her as if they were shaking hands. After one blink, he looked like an older brother greeting his sister after years of separation. After another blink, his eyes were suddenly dilated and he sported the grin of a demon from hell.

From pure reaction, Akira moved to remove the knife from where it stood, but Keitaro put his hand over hers to keep it still, actually relishing the pain.

"Why won't you die…" Akira whispered with despair. She suddenly heard the sounds of rotors and saw the Comanches rise above the tree line. In almost no time, they were on top of the two, their chain guns already spinning in anticipation of the slaughter.

Feeling hopeful once again, Akira tore away from Keitaro so the deadly machines would have a clear shot at him. _For Azuka-sempai!_ Akira thought vengefully, as the multiple lines of holes in the ground made their way to the large crimson circle under Keitaro. The sounds of trees falling over added to her delight as the Abrams joined the fray, but there was that nagging feeling again.

She looked at Keitaro, and saw that goofy grin on his face again, though it seemed really creepy now that his eyes were totally dilated. Just as the lines of slugs were about to pepper him, and the Abrams stood by his side, Akira noticed something.

She had the red dots of laser sights all over her body. To her horror, she saw the Abrams and Comanches actually rally around Keitaro, and point their cannons at her.

"Like I told you," Keitaro said smugly, "this was over before it started…"

"W-what is this?" she said like a meek little girl. "What have you done?" Akira demanded from the crazy looking Keitaro. She could swear she saw a dark looking cloud surrounding his body.

"What have you done!" she screamed, going forward to stab him in the neck.

"No!" another voice cried, blocking Keitaro's body with its own. Akira stepped back when she recognized just who she stabbed.

"A-Azuka-sempai?" Akira cried in horror.

As hard as it was for her to believe, Azuka, _her Azuka_, had willingly jumped in front of the demon and protected it with his own life. "Azuka-sempai!" Akira cried and leapt to his side.

Keitaro watched the scene unfold with little to no interest. All he knew was that the crazy woman before him was no longer a threat. He looked beyond the two and covered his mouth for the yelps of laughter he started spewing from watching the aftermath of the battle. The clearing was peppered with burning potholes, while the forest beyond was ablaze from all of the spent ammunition. In fact, so many shots were fired, he could see the glinting of the forest fire reflecting off of the spent shells.

It looked so beautiful.

Without even thinking it, he ran into the blaze, dancing around, and feeling like he was in a summer breeze. Cooked duds exploded around him, reminding him of the ocean for some reason. It all just felt to right, so wonderful.

The fact that his clothes and skin had burned off and his fat was being cooked away never registered.

After her tearful and almost fatal reunion with her sempai, Akira registered her surroundings once more. Of course, in her arms was her beloved sempai, asleep from the exhaustion of his flesh wound. To her right, in the blazing forest, she could she a charring human form running around. For some reason, it did not revolt her too much; from the data she had come across, Keitaro could get much worse. And to her left was the army of Yakuza soldiers rumored to have joined the ranks of the man called Urahara Koishi, also known as the monster nearby, walking towards her. To her surprise, she found that the men that were supposed to have been under her command just a few minutes ago were in their numbers.

And last of all, there was Sakura, a love struck face adorning her features. As disgusting as it must have seemed, the woman was actually looking into the burning forest, at the sick transgression that was Keitaro frolicking in it.

And it all clicked…

_Damn that Sakura… _Akira thought, feeling used. But she had her sempai all to herself now, and at least she would stay out of the way now. _She better, if she knows what's good for her…_ Akira thought menacingly.

But at least for now, Sakura seemed only infatuated with the monstrous Keitaro. And she seemed to have gotten his attention, since he stopped his hellish movements and walked out to the clearing. By then, his muscles had started cooking, his exposed bones charred, so when the snow fell on his exposed skeletal muscles, they instantly evaporated. In fact, with ever bloody step the man took, the ice and snow melted in his path. By the time he was standing in front of Sakura, his body was expelling steam and he looked like he had just come fresh from the oven, blood splattering down from his caked fingertips and all.

"Hi," Keitaro said, in his 'naked' glory, the sickening movements of facial muscles all too visible.

Before Akira could even guess what Sakura was thinking, the girl lunged hungrily towards the he-demon and kissed him on his still exposed lips. And what was even more disgusting, was that she held him in a tight embrace, smearing blood all over her white cotton sweater.

But the fact that his body was regenerating before her eyes was enough to make her vomit.

Keitaro pulled away from the kiss, huffing and puffing from the lack of breathing, his lips already reformed. Sakura on the other hand had an unsatiated look on her face, as she licked her lips clean of the blood that had accrued on it.

"Nice to meet you too," Keitaro finally said after his breath had caught up. Before he could say another word, Sakura assaulted his fully regenerated body with another deep, hungry kiss.

The rest of the Yakuza laughed at his comic situation.

(-)

Ren could watch no more. After the tanks came in, she just closed her eyes as explosion after explosion rocked the forest. When the carnage finally stopped, she peeked out of the window to see what had happened. If the mysterious man had survived.

To her horror, everything was on fire. Her abductor was on her knees with a blood-soaked man in her arms, but to Ren's infinite relief, it was not the mysterious man. She also noticed that the army that resided with her at Yuri's house was also there. They were all at attention, some people she did not recognize among their ranks. But what held their attention almost made Ren throw up. Standing in front of them, for all to see was a woman holding a bloody man in a tight embrace.

It was the last thing Ren remembered before the horrible nightmares came…

(-O-)

So… almost a whole year since I updated… yeah… (my grades at least justified neglecting it at least).

This story is multiple years in the making by now. I've considered killing it a few times… I almost did when I realized that I lost 30k words worth of files that I had already written over the year, but never got around to publish… but oh well.

I'm actually in Japan now, doing research in robotics in Osaka University. The best way to describe the country is that everything is so damn clean here! I mean, people are actually surprised when they see litter in public… wth…

Anyway, no, nothing is being killed, and yes, I did significantly alter this chapter because the original idea I had to transition to the finale was just too complicated and time consuming for a particularly negligible effect.

I'll try to reconstruct the next chapter as quickly as I can.

Well, enough with the excuses…

**Remember, click the 'Go' button on your way out. (Flames are still understandable and especially welcome if critical)**

**Cheers :)**


	12. Four Days in the Making

**The Other Me**

**Chapter Fifteen:** Four Days in the Making

**By:** Sci-Fi Raptor

**Disclaimer: **_See Chapter Four

* * *

_

I see so many flames in the future. I'll just keep the excuses to myself...

FF has this new traffic tracker thing. I was really surprised that people are still reading TOM and TSTBTPB. I kinda sat there laughing for a while, wondering why people still read this crap. Maybe I'm just really depressed again... I decided that I should finally roll out this chapter. Give you poor folk some closure...

Its been a while since I worked on this project. I had some flags to keep this chapter in line with the story, but its been so long, that I may have missed some details (cause I totally forgot them). Looking at this chapter, I'm a little worried about what people might think because I was personally offended by it after not having read it in such a long time...

Obviously, I've come across some spare time, so I think that I can actually get to the final chapter soon. Hopefully before 2009...

Hey, Obama's the new president! (Please be distracted...)

All elements for TOM have now been introduced. No one new should show up in the final chapter.

(-O-)

_MIA HQ, top secret k__th__ dimensional pocket universe_

_MIA Director Salah al Din kept switching focus from one photon burst to another, not sure if it should have been astonished or furious. Inside, it was both, but the astonishment of the discovery kept it from tearing k__th__ space apart with its considerable abilities. It had been four whole days since the last Made-Mind had been found, but that had been so long ago, most in the multiverse had forgotten about it and regarded it as a myth._

Four whole days…_ the director thought, still amazed that the Made-Mind had suddenly appeared. In the universe that the current Made-Mind existed in, which coincidentally happened to be the same universe that the last one had been found, it had been nearly 1400 "years" of localized space-time. Sending a tendril to the pulsing neutrino next to it, Din sapped its tremendous white hot electromagnetic energy to calm down… The director of the SIA would be coming soon and it would have to do its best to prevent itself from popping a black hole into the SIA director's essence._

Speak of the devil…_ the director thought coolly, as the above mentioned entity existed into the pocket universe that was Din's office._

"_Sapping neutrinos is bad for your health, comrade director Din," the SIA director transmitted, an edge suggesting that he was holding something back._

"_Not sapping it would be bad for __yours__,_ comrade_," the MIA entity bristled. Its patience had already worn out from many encounters with the cunning SIA director's foreplay, so Din simply existed one of the photon bursts into the SIA director's focus, before he could start yet another scheme. Din knew the director would recognize the entity encoded within the burst, but it wanted to see how he would react to it. As expected, he feigned ignorance._

"_A plain, if not youthful example of a human," the SIA director chided, "but I doubt that you would waste both your time and mine just to show me a picture…"_

_Din did not even dignify the SIA director's accusation with a response. Instead, it simply existed the second photon burst into the director's focus._

_The result was immediate._

_The SIA director tried to hide his slip up, but both entities knew it was too late. Instead, the SIA director took a moment to collect himself before he spoke. "Is this-" he started, but was cut off by Din._

"_Yes…" it transmitted coldly, "that is a spirit scan of the same individual… It positively identifies the existence of the first Made-Mind to awaken in the last 4 days!" it chided, than added with an edge of resentment, "And no more games." It summoned one more photon burst and existed it to the SIA director's focus. Engraved upon it was the picture of a younger version of the man in the first two photon bursts, with two SIA agents hovering over him in his sleep._

"_Well, I suppose the cat is out of the bag," the SIA director said calmly. With the repetition of a man seasoned in the arts of navigating through the cloudy sea of politics, he added, "But I can assure you that my taskforce has the situation under control…"_

"HE'S ABOUT TO UNDERGO TIME-SHIFT!!!_" Din transmitted. The message had such raw intensity, it escaped the confines of Din's office's pocket universe and actually reverberated within the pocket universe the contained the highly secret MIA headquarters._

"_Oh my god…" the SIA director transmitted, all pretenses and excuses evaporated. Without even taking his leave, the SIA blinked out of existence, back to the spirit world. He knew that the situation would soon spiral out of control and no words or explanations would contain the damage he and his agents had done._

_But Din did not care. Its message had been received and fully realized, so it and the entities under its charge could hopefully contain the firestorm that was soon to come. However, it could take little solace in the fact that agent Kassquit and Kiki were on the ground, trying their best to contain the inevitable shock the multiverse would undergo when the Time-Shift event would occur. He summoned two more photon bursts._

_Engraved in one was the picture of a small hot springs turtle. In the other was a recent intelligence snapshot of a human running around in a burning forest. Din sent another tendril to the neutrino, resigned. _You damn bastard…_ it thought sadly, _you just had to take the easy way out.

(O)

The crisp morning air was cool against her skin. As she faced the sun, her face was deathly calm. Her _Katana_ was held purposefully in her hands, waiting for the best opportunity to strike. Her pose was as solid as stone, but allowed her to move like silk. Small white puffs escaped through her lips as the extra water her body expelled to dissipate the energy of her elevated body temperature froze instantly. And though her white _hakama _and red _gi_ kept her looking modest, the overall effect could only be described as… sexy. She was doing her normal morning routine and was up to the point where she would slice snowflakes from the air with her _Katana_.

At least to the untrained eye.

Sure, cutting snowflakes floating in the air was no easy feat, but it was just a stepping-stone for the actual exercise. Closing her eyes, Motoko visualized where all of the flakes were. Her keen senses were able to triangulate all of their positions just by the way they disturbed the air around them and the gentle wafts they made.

And she saw her enemies. Faster than a blink of an eye, her sword struck at them all, giving the impression that she had suddenly grown one hundred arms, each carrying its own deadly _Katana_.

Each of the flakes was just a representation for a _Yokai_ she could one day face. With the skill that was only attributable to a professional killer, Motoko kept on slashing at all of the unholy beasts until all of them were destroyed. When she opened her eyes, she was pleasantly surprised with a cloud of powdered ice before her, each crystal reflecting the sun's rays in a dazzling display. A lazy wind picked up in the air and the cloud slowly caressed Motoko's body, sending a pleasant chilly sensation running about the exposed parts of her body.

But it was still quite a workout. She let herself catch her breath before she started her workout of one hundred slashes in the air with a stick with a weight on the far end. Though she was small, Motoko was as strong as a _Kodiak_.

She stopped her movements when she could sense someone coming up to join her. She sheathed her blade and made herself a little more presentable. As she drank some water, she found that it was Naru who had decided to join her today. Though Motoko was fine dressed in her normal attire in the inch thick snow, Naru was sporting a fluffy brown sweater and thick sweatpants.

"Naru-sempai," Motoko said, kneeling on sheet she had put on the snow covered floor, in the proper posture of respect for someone who was older. She left her _Katana_ against her side as an expression of amiability. "To what do I owe the honor of having you join me this morning?"

It was obvious that Naru was not a morning person by how tired she looked. She spent a few moments watching the white puffs that exhaled from her mouth before she seemed to collect her thoughts. She kneeled in front of Motoko as all women did under the strict code of _Bushido _when addressing people.

"I was hoping you would let me train with you, Motoko-chan," Naru said, looking at her knees. Motoko looked at her in surprise.

Naru was a soft person when it came down to it. True, she could send any unlucky male into LEO, but that was only an ability that came to her in moments of white-hot anger. She was no fighter and had the finesse of a pre-teen trainee slipping down a slippery slope with buckets of water on her shoulders. If Naru wanted to train, it would be serious work.

But it was dull be to out here every morning, alone.

And besides, the best way to learn something was to teach another. Her face turning serious, Motoko said, "It will be hard work, and you will have to wake up at 4AM every morning." A smile brightened the older woman's face, making Motoko reminisce for a moment how they used to tag team on a certain pervert.

Naru brought her back to the present when she said, "Thank you very much. I really appreciate it."

"Now, sempai, why have you become interested in training with me?" Motoko asked, genuinely curious. As far as she knew, there really wasn't anything that Naru could gain. There were less tedious ways in which to stay in shape, and she was pretty sure that Naru had only a passing interest with kendo.

"I know that I get angry very easily," she said, looking away from Motoko with an ashamed expression on her face. "I want to start dating again, but I want to learn to control my temper first," she continued, "learn how to become disciplined."

Motoko's thoughts turned sour. She knew what Naru really meant. She was going to try to court Keitaro but she wanted control of her temper before she started. Motoko didn't know why, but it infuriated her. After all this time, all she could think about was Urashima. Motoko had always thought that Naru would have been happy once he left. She had thought that Naru only bothered to spend time with him just to help him study for the entrance exams for Todai. But here Naru was, groveling before Motoko to help her train so that she could bring him back.

She was just so pathetic.

Motoko's stoic mask didn't betray what was brewing inside. Such petty idiocies were below her. All she knew was that she had a new disciple and that she would train her properly.

"It will be a hard journey, and much will be expected," Motoko finally said.

"I'll try my hardest," Naru said, sighing internally because Motoko hadn't flat out rejected her like Naru thought she would. She would soon have to look forward to a future sigh.

"_Trying _your _hardest_ is not enough," Motoko said sharply. "You will be expected to do your best, and then some. This is not some stupid modern exercising program. You are now a wad of dough. When you are finished, you will be as hard as the steel that makes my blade," Motoko said. And to make her point more dramatic, she pulled out her _Katana_ from where it stood and neatly chopped a falling snow flake right from in front of Naru's nose, causing her to reel back in surprise. Before the hydrogen bond-bonded water molecules in the snowflake nary had a chance to be torn apart, the _Katana _was back in its housing, safe from the corrosive crystals that were now blanketing the city.

"I will see you tomorrow at 4:30 sharp," Motoko said as she got up. She walked up to Naru to give her a hand. "But for now, would you like to join me for a dip in the spring?"

Naru just nodded, amazed at how quickly Motoko had moved. The blade was so fast that the tip made vortexes in the air that traced her lightning quick movements. The two went downstairs and soaked in the spring, enjoying each other's company and taking pleasure in the contrast of the cold snowflakes of the winter and the warm spring's rejuvenating waters.

(O)

_MIA, Special Services: Classified Historical Archives_

Special Agent Kiki, MIA: What did you think of Keitaro when you first met him?

Motoko: I had thought him a vile male from the first time I had met him.

Kiki: Do you still feel that way?

Motoko: That he is a male, yes. But I do not think he is vile anymore. He has proven himself to be an honorable warrior.

Kiki: If you could meet him again, what would you do?

Motoko: I suppose I would ask him for a rematch, but only a friendly one. His fighting style is very unique.

Kiki: Anything else?

Motoko: I suppose… that I should apologize to him. No one deserves to be treated with the disrespect that he had when he was manager.

Kiki: Would you think of him as a friend?

Motoko: If he would have me, certainly. But I doubt that he will speak to me again after my disgraceful behavior after our last battle.

Kiki: This is off the record, so you don't have to answer. How do you feel about him?

Motoko: I… I think I may have once loved him, but I have since given up.

Mimi: What would you say if I told you that he loved you too?

Motoko: That… I would be so happy for such an honor; because I would truly be the person I really am, and not hide behind my Samurai heritage.

(O)

Ren did not come to class the next day either. Shinobu was worried now. Ren had not come to school for two whole days and no one knew where she was. Her friends and she asked her teacher about it, but the teacher didn't know anything either.

They were all really worried now and anxiously waited for the day to end. Maybe if they went to her house again, they would see her this time? Shinobu had her doubts. It looked as if no one had ever even lived in the house; it was bare and empty yesterday. The lunch hour finally rolled around and though it was brisk, the group decided to eat outside in the front where there was a light layer of snow.

"I don't believe you," one of Shinobu's friends said. "You're telling me that her house was _empty?_"

"That just doesn't make sense, Shinobu," another added. "I mean, how could they move so quickly?"

"But…" Shinobu insisted, "I know that she lived there. I've seen her go to her house before and there were always cars, motorcycles and people there. But it was empty yesterday…"

"I don't know," the first said. "It just seems so weird…"

Just as she said that, a car pulled up to the school. Shinobu recognized that car. It was the car that used to pick up her Sempai back when he used to live at the Hinata-Sou.

"Awa?" Shinobu said, suddenly standing up. Her friends were all caught by surprise and many food items fell.

"Shinobu?" the second asked in surprise.

"That's the car that Sempai used to ride in," Shinobu said excitedly. Even without thinking about it, she started going up to it, her friends far behind.

_Did Sempai come to see me?_ Shinobu thought excitedly. It had been so long since she had seen him and it surprised her how much she missed him.

The driver's door opened up and revealed the gaijin Russki that had become her Sempai's new friend. Shinobu's heart almost jumped out of her and she ran even faster.

_Sempai is here!_ she thought excitedly. The Russki went to the other side of the Veyron and opened the passenger side door.

"Rin?" Shinobu said, stopping in surprise. Sitting in the passenger seat was a despondent looking Ren, sporting a fluffy pink sweater. To say Shinobu hadn't expected to see her in the least would have been an understatement.

"Rin!" Shinobu exclaimed happily when she realized that her friend was okay. She ran up to Ren and gave her a hug. By then, her friends had caught up to her and all thoughts of her beloved sempai were gone.

"Rin, what happened?" the first friend said.

"Yeah, we've been worried…" the second added.

"Oh my gosh, what happened to you!" Shinobu yelped when she saw a large scar on Ren's left calve, one that was not there the last time they met. Ren looked away, but the Russki answered for her.

"She got in an accident while we were moving her things yesterday," Yuri said coolly. "We kept her out of school till she was ready to come back."

"Oh…" Shinobu said. Yuri went into the driver's seat again and left the girls standing together on the sidewalk; it did not even occur to Shinobu to inquire about her beloved sempai's state until the Veyron was already passing the school's exit.

"You should have told us you were moving, Rin," Shinobu said as the group went back to their lunch table. "We were so worried."

"I didn't really know," Ren said sadly. "It just happened without anyone telling me…"

The girls kept quiet, not sure how to respond. They finished their lunches while Ren kept quiet, sadly gazing at a point on the table. The other girls ate quietly. When the bell rang, the first three girls moved to clean up their garbage and go to class. But Ren kept sitting there, not really noticing.

"You guys go ahead," Shinobu said to the two friends, her assertive fire blazing for some reason. "I'll see what's wrong…" They looked at Ren with worried expressions, but nodded in agreement. Shinobu sat next to Ren and said, "Did something happen?"

(-)

_Ren did not know exactly what had happened, where she was, or why she was there. She remembered the nightmare from before she passed out, but she blocked it out as soon as it came back to her. She sat up in the bed she had awoken in and tried to take stock of things, her old instincts kicking in. She looked around to see if she could recognize where she was, but to no avail. Though the room was similar to the one in Yuri's house, she found that she was in the guest room of a stranger's house. Though the furniture was not the proper Chinese variety she was still accustomed to, it was still elaborate for a mere _Nippon-jin's_ home._

"_Ah, I see that you're awake," exclaimed an unfamiliar voice. Ren tracked the voice and looked to where the bathroom would have been. Standing under the doorframe was an unfamiliar girl sporting a warm smile. White towel in hand, she walked up to Ren's bed and pushed down on her chest, saying, "It's too early for you to get up yet; you need your rest."_

"_But-" Ren was about to protest, but a sharp pain from her calve made her relent._

"_It's really just a scratch," the stranger started, removing Ren's sheets to show the offending leg and the injury she had gotten. "It seems that when those bad snipers were gunning for you, our hero was a bit slower than he thought he was," the stranger continued, obviously referring to the man that Ren had come to… love?_

_She felt her cheeks flush warmly._

"_My name is Sakura, by the way," the stranger turn acquaintance said, bowing formally. "Nice to meet you Ren."_

_The fact that the total stranger knew her name should have sent alarming flags in her mind as to why this person knew it, but Ren was a bit… distracted…_

"_Ow!" Ren complained when she felt another sudden sharp pain on her calf. She looked to the wound and saw that the woman henceforth known to her as Sakura had applied an alcohol pad on the wound without her knowledge and was already wrapping it with gauze._

"_Sorry about that," Sakura said, sporting a mischievous, toothy grin. She looked back at the dressing that she was working on, and said, "I remember being a kid and having the same thing happen too." She looked up at Ren with a warm smile and chuckled, "minus the whole sniper thing," and went back to dressing. "It's a lot worse when you see it coming," she said, sounding distant for a moment, "at least when you don't know its coming, the pain is the only thing you feel." She paused a moment, when suddenly she pulled on the gauze, _hard_**. **__Ren stifled the gasp that would have come out when she saw Sakura suddenly stand. The wound was dressed._

"_Sorry about that too," Sakura sweetly apologized. "I just wanted to make sure it was on tight so that it wouldn't fall off when you started walking."_

_The news to which Ren responded by sporting a smile worthy of her age and jumping off of the bed and quickly testing the leg. True to Sakura's words, the dressing did not slip off and it barely hurt anymore. Forgetting the thank you, Ren simply ran up to the older woman and gave her a tight hug, though she could only reach up to her waist._

"_You don't talk much, do you?" Sakura giggled, hugging her back._

"_Thank you, big sister!" Ren finally said, smiling ear to ear. She had never thought that there were actually people that cared about others anymore. Maybe, finally, she could move forward from the horrible experience she had had since she had left China._

_Bursting with a new energy, Ren bolted out of the room, eager to find the man whose name she did not know. The first person to treat her as if she were a human being and not merchandise to be bartered or sold. The man that she thought she… no, she was sure that she loved._

(-)

Ren just continued to stare at the point. "Rin?" Shinobu asked again when she noticed that Ren started sniffing. Before she knew it, Ren was embracing her desperately; bawling like a woman whose husband had just died.

(-)

_They had kept her from Ren the whole of the day before. But she would not let those thugs keep her from the man she loved. It had taken her a day to find him in the monster of a mansion that the woman she knew as Sakura lived in and she had had to _disable_ a few thugs along the way, but she had finally found him. Though she had been so driven to find him up till now, she suddenly felt apprehensive._

_Did he still remember her? Did he care for her?_

_No, that did not matter. She would stay by his side as they had been all this time, regardless. All she wanted now was to see him. As she finally found the internal strength to open the door, she had a sudden apprehensive feeling. What she saw inside made her gasp in horror; she almost threw up._

_Inside, the man whose name she did not know was tied to a large stone table, completely naked. His wrists were bound to two corners and ankles to two others, but since the table was half as long as he was, he was forced into a kneeling position. And as bad as that might have seemed, the picture got worse. He was covered head to toe with burns, bruises, welts, gashes and all other signs of torture that Ren could think of._

_She took a step back, mortified by what she saw and the memories that surfaced as a result, stepping so hard on her wounded leg that the gauze fell off, slowly uncoiling to show an almost completely healed wound._

"_I see that you two share the same amazing healing ability," a voice said from the shadows. Ren looked to her left and saw Sakura walking up to her, the same warm smile on her face the first time Ren had seen her, but Ren could actually sense the malice behind it this time. The sweater she wore had bloodstains consistent with someone who was well versed in the arts of torturing people._

"_W-what did you do to him?!" Ren accused, images of girls her past captors had made examples of flashing through her mind._

"_Do to him?" Sakura said thoughtfully, as if she was actually mulling it over in her head. After a few moments, she finally said, "All I did was make love to my one and only…" as if it were the most obvious thing in the word._

"_Y-you call _that_ making love?!" Ren said reproachfully, almost throwing up when she glanced his way once more. Without saying another word, she moved to emancipate the one man who had saved her, but Sakura had somehow moved to block her from going into the room, a scowl in possession of her features._

"_And what do you think you're doing?" Sakura said in a steely voice._

"_I'm getting us the _hell_ out of here!" Ren replied, using the slang she had picked up from China before her abduction. She tried to force her way past Sakura, but the older woman put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed with an iron clad grip._

"_You need to rest," Sakura said, sounding all the _devil_ Ren had thought her to be. "Otherwise your injury won't heal properly," she added, as the force from her grip dislocated Ren's shoulder. Ren would not yelp in pain, but it hurt so much that she had no choice except to do what the woman wanted. She escorted Ren to another floor, into a room where she was surprised to find Yuri lounging, reading a book written in a language that she had never seen._

"_I found her next to a stairwell, her shoulder dislocated," Sakura announced to the Russki, who merely moved his eyes up from his reading material to regard the two. "Be a dear and make sure she stays out of trouble," Sakura said, after painfully relocating Ren's shoulder. Yuri merely nodded as Sakura left. _

_Ren was about to go out and follow her, but Yuri suddenly said, "I wouldn't."_

_Reb stopped and turned to look at him, but he continued to read his book. But before she moved to leave the room again, Yuri added, "If you step out of this room, next time she sees you, she'll kill you."_

_And to her eternal shame, she listened._

(-)

"Ren…" Shinobu said softly, trying to console her friend. She did not know what had upset the young girl so much, but God help her, she would stay by her side the whole time.

_I know Sempai would…_ the girl thought, slowly brushing her hand through the other girl's hair. She whispered words of comfort into her friend's ear as a new coat of light snow wafted down from the heavens, moving with the wind as if children at play.

(O)

Tsuruko had finally noticed its ki signature two days ago. It was massive and scared her from even where she stood. She scrambled to find it but arrived at the battle field too late. What was once a forest was now in ashes and cratered like a snow covered moon…

(O)

_February_

It had been more than two months since Akira's assault. And in that time, a bad situation turned desperate.

The fact that the meeting was secret spoke volumes as to how desperate times had become. Seated in front of the heavy cedar wood meeting table before the man known only as "Sensei" in the underworld were the last loyal bosses of the shattered old Yakuza. The last time Sensei could remember such trouble was back during the gaijinn's occupation, where not only did the pacifist traitors of the country make movement nearly impossible, but the occupying Americans themselves were in direct competition with what would one day become the modern day Yakuza. Sensei had courage and charisma to keep them alive then, but the current threat was seemingly much worse.

This boss' meeting, one of the few such ever called, would finalize a desperate move to destroy the man dreadfully known to them as Koishi Urahara. It would involve the hijacking of a secret US nuclear submarine, and the demolition of an estate owned by one of the very members present, plotting the destroy it!

_Curses on his name!_ Sensei thought, glaring at Sakura's father, causing the feeble man to cower. _Had he kept a leash on that damn daughter of his, our situation would not be half as dire._

Though blaming everything on Sakura's father was a convenient thing to brood on, the problem inevitably rested solely on the actions of Koishi Urahara. His meddling was ripping the established Yakuza apart on all fronts. Most problematic was the alarming rate of turnover to his side. The very fact that the largest portion of the traitors were his very own victims defied all logic. Then there was the matter of turning age old allies against the establishment. Russian, Chinese, and even Columbian cartels now demanded insurance on all deals, even those that used to be as commonplace as a handshake.

And then there were the political actions. Sensei did not know how he was doing it, but Koishi had by some means caused not only the Chinese government, who were already on rough ground with the Japanese, but still had a cool relationship with so far, but also the Russian government to bear ill will to the Japanese government. His brazen international actions not only threatened the potential nuclear juggernaut of the combined former communist 'allies,' but also the American retaliation, as per its nuclear umbrella, under which Japan was protected by. Only a madman, or an idiot, would risk a nuclear winter over…

_What? What does that monster want? What are his motives?_

The increased volume of the murmurings of the Bosses broke Sensei's line of thought, and brought him back to more pressing matter; namely, the assassination of one Koishi Urahara.

"If you would brief everyone, Reyega-san…" Sensei said loudly, effectively starting the meeting.

"Thank you, Sensei," Reyega replied, bowing in respect. He then continued on by detailing the plot to hijack a secret American nuclear submarine, stationed near Tokyo, with a complement of conventional missiles. He then continued on about how the operation would utilize the American war machine to make a strike on the current residence of Koishi Urahara, namely, the estate owned by Sakura's father. At his own mention, the man hung his head in shame.

"A team from the northern branch will standby at the mansion to coordinate the strike and confirm the kill-"

A sudden loud noise took everyone by surprise. And then another. All the bosses looked at the only pair of reinforced heavy doors that gave entry to the meeting room in apprehension. Surely, the commotion outside was just some idiot Yakuza grunts being stupid.

The face of every man in the room went a ghostly white when the doors shattered.

"_**No…**_" a dark voice boomed from behind the dust as if reading their very thoughts. The dust started to settle when a soft, sharp noise could he heard.

"Ugh!" one of the Bosses suddenly cried. All turned to him and were horrified to find him grasping his throat, what seemed to be a ninja throwing knife impaled through his wind pipe. His eyes started popping out, as he clawed at his throat, and then through the air, desperately

_frantically_

trying to breath. With every heartbeat, his blood gushed out like

_jets of crimson_

a geyser,

_soaking_

flying everywhere until his head just landed on the old table, covered with an ever larger pool of his own blood, with a resounding thud.

"Hahahaha!!!" a maniacal laugh followed the squishy thud. All the

_scared, horrified, mortified _

eyes in the room turned back to the doorway, where stood a familiar woman clad in a revealing red bikini, laughing as if she were boasting something. Behind her stood the monster known as Koishi Urahara, eyes dilated as if he were in a cave, smiling

_disturbingly_

as if he were watching something interesting on TV.

Throwing the last of her knives at the closest victims, Sakura readied herself to unleash the very _Katana_ that Sensei had once given her. Jumping from where she stood to the middle of the table with the dexterity of one who had mastered the art of killing, she turned around in a full, swift, circle with the _Katana_ extended, ripping apart the chests of six slow, _fat_ Bosses. Their bosoms separated with a sickening crackle, as their severed hearts sprayed the mad woman with a river of crimson. As if a carefree child, Sakura took a moment to bask in the living red rain that fell on her, while the other bosses pulled out their guns, or ran with their tails between their legs.

Their bullets bounced away harmlessly, as Sakura was very adept at defending herself, her movements betrayed by the flash of her katana as she moved with the speed of a trained assassin! Those who tried to leave the room were met by the eerie stare of the one they knew as Koishi Urahara. His cold,

_dilated_

piercing eyes made them all overcome with such horror that they simply turned away, the specter of Sakura seemingly less terrifying than his otherworldly stare.

Blinking, Sakura's focus went straight into one individual; the old man that she knew as Reyega. Smiling with the thought of her imminent revenge, the old man froze, sensing her radiating killer intent.

"_Re-ye-ga…_" she said in a low,

_drawn out_

feral mutter. The old man slowly turned to face her blood lusting eyes, as she slowly,

_intentionally_

walked up to him. To him, the overall effect was almost like watching Jesus walk through water, as his executioner approached.

_But instead of the holy Jesus, there was the hell-spawn known as Sakura. And instead of walking on water, her bare feet walked on the dirtied crimson liquid of the fallen, pummeled by what seemed like a dying rain of life from her most recent victims._

She had a dark, predatory look in her eyes, as she maliciously dragged her _Katana_ along the floor. As the crimson rain stopped, since her victims blood pressure had normalized with the atmosphere, Sakura's eyes shone greedily with her killer intent Reyega would face his death honorably, not like the cowards around him who were either trying to run, or miserably trying to take aim at their attacker. He intended to die like a samurai, as his father and grandfather had.

Sakura intended to enjoy this as much as time allowed.

(-)

Next on her list was Sensei. Though most of the old men were cowering, waiting for their impending deaths, some were still willing to put up a fight. Not that it mattered.

Sakura was very adept at deflecting bullets, and she just tore up anyone who dared to come into her killing field. Like the other cowards, Sensei just curled up next to a wall, hands covering his ears. From his trembling, it was obvious that the old man was scared beyond belief, which was surprising, considering that he was supposed to have taken part of much worse bloodbaths in his prime. No longer interested in disintegrating him limb by limb, organ by organ, as she had with Reyega, Sakura just chopped his head off to go on to the next old man.

She coughed a little when blood from his jugular jumped into her mouth, taking her by surprise. But the taste of the liquid seemed to waken some inner demon within. A demon that wanted more

_destruction_

blood and she jumped to the next victim, her deathly edge blazing. This feeling

_the exhilaration_

of a new kind of blood lust seemed to increase her body's abilities. She soared through the air from one victim to another, her striking pose like that of a bird of prey. Her blade tore through the human flesh like a hot knife through butter, as she ripped her victims apart like a greedy wolf. The screams of horror, and their pleas of mercy sounded like music to her. And best of all, was the blood.

The crimson fluid rained down like a monsoon, covering everyone and every inch of her body. Its warmth against her skin, and that slick feeling as it rolled down just felt so…

_good_

new that she just did not want it to stop. She hacked and chopped and sliced and tore, until all that were left were twitching corpses, still pumping the last bit of life into the air.

But the joy she felt! She felt like a kid again, dancing in the bloody rain. She danced and twirled until it finally stopped, the bodies now completely lifeless, their futile attempts at defending themselves marked only by the spent shell casings, halved bullets, and mangled guns.

Sakura, taken over by some overwhelming feeling of euphoria, jumped into a puddle of red, rolling around it like some kind of mangy mutt. She got handfuls of the stuff and covered her body with it, as if she wanted to soak it all in. What was not covered by her red bikini was now covered in the blood of her

_former_

enemies. She laughed and giggled, so consumed with contentment, that she did not come back to reality until the blood had turned cold, and stale.

Her wits about her again, she slowly got back to her feet and collected her _Katana_. Noting with a frown as to how soiled the once polished metal looked, she rubbed it along her breast, relishing the feeling of the instrument of death against her body. She walked back to the door, dripping dirty blood as she walked in a _very_ sexy manner, where Keitaro stood. The whole time, he had been gazing at her

_carnage_

intently, seemingly sharing in her joy as the old Yakuza were vanquished, one by one. Miraculously, he was completely clean, as if some kind of _force_ kept the blood away from him.

As for Sakura's humiliated father, he had also drawn his gun. But instead of pointing it at his daughter, he pointed it at his own head.

Her predatory eyes left no doubt as to her intent, as she lunged at her quarry. Her _Katana_ stowed away in Keitaro's guts, she quickly assaulted his lips, her blood lust turning horny. As he responded back, mouth full of blood from the attack, Sakura just lost herself to some kind of animal buried deep within her.

But that animal was now very much in the open, fangs screaming for more blood.

(-)

She had taken him right next to the bloodbath, and now he was sleeping, seemingly exhausted by Sakura's animal drive, and the bloody _Katana_ that gored him with every pleasurable squirm. Though she wanted to just stay in his arms, the blood that covered her now caked into some ugly brown crust, there was business to be done.

The special assault team made up of the Black Ninja Stars had finished "sweeping" the building of all loyal Yakuza left (that is killing all that opposed Sakura's bid for power). The assault had been bloody, but the carnage that Sakura had left behind was enough to make even the strongest among them buckle with terror. Sakura looked up to the team leader, who cringed in fear. Luckily, his ninja gear hid his face, so Sakura could only just _smell_ his fear.

Smiling a feral smile, she stood up, and to their horror revealed a Keitaro gored by her _Katana_. Though their first reaction was to kill anyone that dare touch Keitaro, the sight of Sakura standing over him just scared them enough to make them hesitate.

Not paying their reactions much mind, Sakura pulled her _Katana_ out of its Keitaro sheath, and grabbed its inanimate version from a nearby frozen ninja who had been tasked with carrying it. After cleaning the deathly instrument with her breast again, which made her give a shallow moan, she tucked it away into its rightful home and roughly shoved it into the nearest minion's hands.

Then, watched by the circle of confused, disoriented,

_sick_

ninjas, Sakura started taking Keitaro once more, as he magically stirred back to life. Some of the ninjas just stood there, trying their best not to throw up. Others ran far away, the horrible image before them, burned into their mind's eye.

It had been a good day, Sakura felt. Her enemies destroyed, her greatest love between her legs, and the whole of the dark underworld almost totally under her control.

She screamed with pleasure.

(O)

The Hinata-Sou's newest manager, Amalla Su, had been one of the more interesting people that Kitsune had met. Collected like Haruka, but just as playful and teasing as Kitsune, the two had quickly become drinking partners. Their similar personalities were so compatible, but with the way the foreign woman acted around her, Kitsune was starting to worry if maybe something more would develop.

Not that it mattered right now. The two, joined by Haruka, were enjoying each others company in the hot springs, downing some warm sake as they conversed on women folk gossip.

"At the same time?" Haruka said in wonder, her poker face distorted from the little tidbit Amalla had mentioned in regards to Molmolian marriage tradition for the royal family.

"It is seen as necessary to ensure a full stock of heirs," Amalla elaborated, giving Kitsune one of those winks that, honestly, made her _real_ uncomfortable. The woman's innuendos had started to make the resident fox sympathize with the men that she had taken advantage of before, as of late…

"Huh…" Haruka grunted, "Good thing Seta isn't royalty." _Otherwise, auto insurance would become a real headache._

"Mew?" Tama chirped from within the ample bosom of Amalla. Amalla had become the de facto protector of the turtle during Keitaro's absence, making Su's eternal nemesis (and prospective food) all but impervious to attack.

"Naughty turtle!" Amalla giggled, and put it on its normal perch, atop her silver hair.

"Mew?" Tama chirped again, as if ignorant to its _little_ offense. Kitsune giggled too, but stopped when she noticed that look on the other woman's eyes. Being the fox she was, being preyed upon surely did not settle well with her.

Trying to focus attention to something else, Kitsune strategically said "You guys saw the news last night?"

"About the murder?" Haruka asked.

"More like massacre," Amalla said in a dark tone. All were quiet, the atmosphere suddenly awkward.

'Boom!' The three were suddenly showered by raining spring water as a certain Molmolian princess started her attack.

"I'm finally gonna eat you today!" Su screamed from above at a certain panicky turtle, letting fly more of her patent pending Turtle-Buster Bombs®.

"Su, you maniac!" Kitsune cried under the unrelenting assault, doing her best to save the expensive sake she had just bought, a reward to herself to keeping her drinking moderate and under control for so long. Her efforts were to no avail, however, as a stray bomb happened to land smack dab in the middle of her precious containers.

"No!" Kitsune cried as a cloud of pink appeared before her. Though she wallowed in self pity, her sadness turned to anger as it was all directed at a certain tanned hell maker. _Su!!!_

Haruka calmly pulled out her gun, aiming smack dab at the fuel tank of the latest of Su's Mecha Tamas, while Amalla ran around like a headless chicken, hugging Tama-chan protectively inside her voluptuous bosom, while the said turtle frantically moved its flippers, trying to fly away and escape, inadvertently tickling the foreign woman and making her lose concentration.

Two sharp cracks, and a loud boom was heard, as Harukas bullets aimed true. Seconds later, Su landed into Kitsune's waiting arms, as the Mecha Tama sailed past the Hinata's grounds. It ended up landing near a pair of glasses wielding dorks, who were on their way to ask a certain _kendo_-ist and gunslinger out again, but the explosion that landed in front of them made them decide that today was a bad day.

"Yay, you caught Su!" Su cheered, having been caught in Kitsune's arms bridal style. She instinctively started rubbing her cheek against the older woman's as a sign of affection.

"Su…" Kitsune muttered darkly, the unstable look in her eye crazy enough to make even a monkey like Su cower. The puppy dog eyes that came upon the monkey's face as a self-preservation mechanism would not cause the foxy woman to relent, no matter _how_ Su looked.

Amalla only laughed at Su's face while Kitsune gave her a most vigorous noogie. Su turned to look at Haruka for help, but the look on the older woman's face clearly said, "You're on you own kid." For all her toughness, not even she wanted to get into Kitsune's crosshairs right now.

Once Kitsune ran out of steam, which incidentally happened to be radiating from Su's hair, she just plopped down into the springs next to Haruka, looking very, very tired. In the least, she was grateful to Su that the energetic young girl had steered the older women's conversation clear of the awkward atmosphere before. The price however, Kitsune lamented, looking at the now annihilated sake bottles, was very steep.

Haruka gave her a sympathizing look, and settled down with taking a smoke. Su had run into Amalla's sisterly embrace, while Tama-chan escaped the older woman's clutches and settled for the relatively safety that was Kitsune's head.

Recently the Hinata-Sou seemed to return to a sense of normalcy. That heavy atmosphere seemed to melt away with the snow, as spring had finally arrived.

Though it was only a strange feeling in the back of her mind, Haruka could sense a change in the air. As if the old social norms that tied everyone together had changed. That a new kind of life had emerged.

That the girls had finally started to move on.

Whatever this change was, Haruka had this strange feeling that it may have been irreversible. Whether or not that was a good thing was something that only time could reveal. But there was that nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach, telling her that something was not the way it should be. That someone was not the way he or she was meant to be.

Haruka, however, shook away such thoughts, after taking a drag of her cigarette. Such thoughts really amounted to nothing, as they accomplished nothing. All she wanted to do was remember this time, this scene that had been vacant from the Hinata-Sou for so long. Haruka's lips curled into a subtle smile.

Everyone seemed happy.

The rest of the Hinata-Sou's residents decided to show up, mostly curious of all the noise coming from the springs. Amalla had taken a position in front of a faucet where she was cleaning her younger sister, both sitting on a stool. Sarah took that moment to make fun of her accomplice, when Shinobu took her by surprise as she replicated the same thing on her. Su and Sarah sat indignantly side by side, as they were forcibly being washed, while Amalla and Shinobu smiled to each other, loving the sisterly moment. Naru, Mutsumi and Motoko settled down next to the two adults already sitting in the spring, Naru trying to comfort the resident fox when she noticed the ravaged bottles nearby.

In an objective manner, Haruka noted how the girls really were growing. Su and Sarah had a very close friendship, even while they went to different schools. Amalla balanced her duties as manager, and her duties to her country very well. Though they did not really know it, Su and Shinobu had been quickly filling into their womanly curves since they both turned sixteen. Shinobu, in particular, had been developing a certain beauty to her, though it may have been more in regards to how she carried herself. From what Haruka had gleaned over the months, many school boys had confessed their love to the two. For some reason, however, the two high schoolers had always rejected them, for what Haruka could only imagine were their own personal reasons.

Motoko had probably changed to most out of everyone, though not too much for the better. Her newfound obsession with the sword made her very unsocial. But in her own merit, she had been winning competition after competition. There were also rumors that she was considering going to Todai when she graduated, since she had received a full scholarship to the school based on her kendo.

Mitsune had turned into the literary butterfly recently, exchanging the bottle for the pen. From what Haruka had heard from some of her customers, her writings were relatively popular, and were deeper than the foxy woman ever let on about herself. Mutsumi fit very well into her new college life. Though she was still as klutzy as ever, her legions of fan boys had kept her safe (and kept each other from ever taking advantage of her when she was unconscious).

Naru… Naru was changed. Though the hardest parts were now over, the girl was still slow to recover. From Haruka knew she and Keitaro had been avoiding each other in school for some time, so it had been easier for the girl to recover. But the training she was getting from Motoko was still unsettling. It was not as if Haruka was worried that the girl was going to use it on someone. She was just worried that Naru was running away.

From herself.

Haruka cut her recollections there, however. Instead, she chose to bask in the warmth of the patched family that now surrounded her. All the older girls (barring Amalla) had settled down in the springs and were simply enjoying each others company (Kitsune swallowed her sulk with some of the watermelon that Mutsumi had brought), while Amalla and Shinobu, had started washing Su and Sarah's hair.

For a second the scene hit Haruka with a brick solid wall of déjà vu. _So familiar…_

Her thoughts floated to Keitaro, when some words accidentally escaped her lips, "…just like Kanako…"

What followed abruptly brought her back to reality.

"Who's Kanako?"

(O)

_MIA, Special Services: Classified Historical Archives_

Special Agent Kiki, MIA: Before the incident, how would you describe your nephew?

Haruka: Total idiot.

Kiki: …no hesitation…

Haruka: He was really clumsy. He was also too nice for his own good. But… I guess that's one reason why all the girls were drawn to him.

Kiki: Intelligence shows that he looked up to you.

Haruka: Really?

Kiki: Yes.

Haruka: Heh… go figure.

Kiki: Do you find that strange?

Haruka: Well… I guess I've been too cold to the boy. I figured I was really just an aunt to him.

Kiki: His diary shows that he felt very affectionate about you.

Haruka: Um…

Kiki: In a big sister sort of way.

Haruka: Phew… you know with him, I sometimes wondered.

Kiki: What do you mean, exactly?

Haruka: Well, a virgin in a house full of jail bait and firecrackers? I figured he'd be a man within a month or so.

Kiki: …

Haruka: But I guess that's not totally fair. They were really cold to him in the beginning.

Kiki: His diary also hints that he thought of them all as family. Analysis also shows that all the girls felt some kind of affection for him after his acquisition of managerial status.

Haruka: (smile) Yeah, he'd do that to you…

(O)

Su sighed in resignation as the midday bell rung for lunch. There was nothing wrong in lunch-y perspective, as Shinobu had actually made her most favorite of dishes for lunch today: ripe banana. But what made today's lunch seem lackluster was that she would not have any mechanical companions to play (translated: _wreak havoc_) with while she ate. The Molmolian Princess decided that she would go bug Shinobu and her group, as Sarah had ditched school to visit something called a "Mayan Temple" (which sounded like it would be really tasty with bananas, but Sarah would not tell Su what a "Mayan Temple" was, nor if it was tasty or not) with Seta and Su's own friends were still recovering at their homes from the medium-ly spiced curry she had brought in a week ago for a potluck.

She bounced down the halls at a relatively conservative pace (triple marathon running speed) until she spied her quarry out a window. A great smile formed on her face as she opened the window.

"Shinomu!" Su bellowed with joy as she leaped for the group from the third floor, while everyone that saw her looked on in horror.

"Amalla!" Shinobu cried in horror as she saw said girl sailing from the third floor and falling towards the scrambling group. Sure, Su had done some insane things, but there was no way she should have been able to survive a fall from that height. One of the girls in her group already had a cell phone out, calling for an ambulance.

"Woo hoo!" Su cried like a monkey, suddenly thrusting an arm out to catch a conveniently placed branch on a tree that Shinobu's group had no noticed till then for whatever strange reason. She used the branch like a spring, letting go of it when it looked like it was about to break. She landed surprisingly lightly on her feet, however, and bowed to her unwitting audience as some simply waived the act as another of Su's games, while others questioned why there was a tree there to begin with. However, these thoughts were dispelled by a sudden feeling that asking such questions might unravel some fabric of their universe.

"Amalla-san!" Shinobu cried, highly upset. "What were you thinking!" She paused for a moment and appended, "Just don't do something like that again!"

"Hai hai~" she said cheerfully, taking a position among the reassembled group and munched on one of her bananas.

The following awkward silence was only disturbed by Su's inhalation of food and quiet munching of lunch, until Ren blurted out, "What manner of devil are you?"

Shinobu gasped, not only because she had never seen someone ask such an insulting question so directly, but also because Ren had started talking again. She kept looking between her old and new friend until Su stopped munching on bananas and said, "What's a devil? Is it tasty?"

Shinobu, among the others present, sweat dropped.

"No Su…" Shinobu started, but continued talking, thinking that it would be better to keep Su from saying something actually disturbing. "Su's from another country called Mol Mol. She's really smart and she's really good with machines."

"Yeah!" Su suddenly added, on her feet and pumping her right arm in the air. "Su can do anything with computers too!" She then started explaining how she had broken into the Japanese Ministry's secured computer network and left them a 'present.'

"So you claim that you can manipulate any of the bedeviled boxes into submitting to your will?" Ren asked, suddenly serious.

"Yup!" Su exclaimed and held her right arm outstretched with a V formed by two fingers.

The strange smirk on Ren's smile worried Shinobu, but the girl suddenly become social moments later. As lunch neared to a close, she was glad to see that the recluse Ren finally seemed able to make friends again, and with the way she was talking to Su about something called a "Super Computer," Shinobu was sure that the two would become very close friends.

(O)

_The _darkness_ was all Keitaro could see. It was not so much the kind of darkness that resulted from the absence of light, but that heavy feeling one gets when all the senses are dulled. When one is in a state of nothingness, completely cut off from the world; from all sense of reality. It was similar to that dark world he had slipped into so many times… but it was also different. Keitaro did not know how long he had been there, floating this time for all he knew. There was no sense of time; seconds could turn to minutes, could warp to years._

_He welcomed it at first; it was the first time that he truly felt that there was no one out to get him; that if he let down his guard, even if for a second, nothing bad would happen. He relished the calm and quiet; he felt safe. No one to protect; no one to care for. All this fighting that he had been doing_

What fighting?

_had been wearing him out more than he ever imagined it all. All the bloodshed,_

Who's blood?

_all the pain, the agony,_

Who's?

_all the _fucking _shit that he had been going through had worn him down mentally by so much, he was not sure if he could hold his grip on reality._

What reality?

"_Who's there?" Keitaro shouted suddenly, furious that someone would dare intrude upon this refuge that he had finally found. He could not see, hear, feel, taste or touch the intruder, but he could finally _sense_ that there was someone_

Or something

_there. Something_

Claustrophobia…

_started setting in and Keitaro started panicking when nothing answered back. "I know you're there!" his voice shouted angrily. But everything thing felt weird,_

Wrong

_like something was messing with his head._

Like something is in your head.

No…_ the ex-ronin thought after that last thought. He felt disembodied, as if his own voice was coming from somewhere else. "Where are you?!" his voice shouted again, but it was almost as if he were yelling to himself. _What's going on?_ the ex-landlord thought, the signs of an imminent panic attack becoming apparent. He_

Your body

_clutched his chest, trying desperately to keep his heart from jumping out. This feeling of panic became so intense, he could imagine as all his glands let loose a torrent of hormones, awakening the slumbering potential of every single cell that made up the fiber of his being_

And _soul_

_and gave him superhuman strength, sharper reactions and- and…_

Apparently increased mental faculties?

_Yeah! Yeah, that was it! The thing with the facilities…_

Exactly who are you talking to?

"_YOU!" Keitaro screamed! His voice carried such intensity, he could __swear__ he saw the darkness ripple._

Interesting… (But how do you see a ripple when everything is black?)

_What was that about? _I don't know…_ he thought, and tried again. "YOU!" he screamed again, actually managing to be able to muster the same intensity._

I did not see that coming…

_He took a proverbial step back. Yes, the blackness *apparently* seemed to ripple again,_

That wasn't too hard, now was it child?

_but there was a small slit_

A seam?

_that seemed to show him a glimpse of an outside world. A flash of red or orange?_

Mashallah!

Ursai!_ he thought with annoyance. This revelation was more urgent than arguing with- with…_

Look not at me…

_Whatever! "Ursai!" he yelled again, seeing if it would cause a different reaction. And_

Boy oh boy… we will need to converse later it seems…

_was there a reaction! Keitaro lost his perceptions._

Consciousness, I think its called…

(-)

All Keitaro could feel was pain. He did not know why he was in pain, nor could he explain why it was all he could feel. Screaming with agony, his body slowly booted up the rest of his cognitive functions, letting him take agonizing stock of his state.

The first thing he realized when his sense of touch came back was that he was tied up, completely immobilized, on his knees, head down, and ass up. The second thing he soon realized after that was that his eyelids were just covered; he had not lost his sense of sight. His sense of smell picked up a vast array of odors, the most distinctive of which was the burning of flesh. This brought him to the last point that his cognitive processes surmised after compiling all the evidence his senses had told it.

Simply put, someone had set a fire into his ass.

"Someone help me!" Keitaro finally screamed, though the gag that was stuffed in his mouth made it very unintelligible.

"Hmm? What was that?" someone said from behind, the thing in his behind shifting. Keitaro started wriggling in protest to the violation of his right to not be violated. Thankfully, the offending thing, henceforth known as the whatever-it-was, was removed. Keitaro could hear the body that the voice belonged walk up to him and remove his blindfold.

Keitaro's eyes bugged out immediately.

It was not the manner of dress that the person wore (or did not wear) that made him freak out, but the manner in which she wore them and looked at him with caring. Before him stood a handsomely gorgeous orange haired young woman wearing an outfit that would have even made Kitsune blush. Her fiery locks went down past her shoulders, though some of them went down the front and were matted down from the sweltering heat in the room, tantalizingly framing her generous blooming bosom. His eyes shifted lower, though the perverted part of him wanted to keep them focused on the younger, perky pair before him. He was pleasantly surprised with the optimal hourglass that stood before him, though he was surprised to find that the woman was actually built like a lean athlete. _Head out of the gutter…_ Keitaro thought to himself as his eyes drifted lower than the waist. Her legs were those of a professional sprinter, capable of accelerating her to maximum speed in no time. Perfect for getting away from dangerous situations.

Recognition!

"Hello?" the now familiar voice said. "Eyes up here, pervert…"

To his surprise, the redheaded woman was not the pissed off Naru he had thought he had momentarily heard, but that same woman from the alley. But she was not cowering with fear this time, no; there was an indescribable, strange, yet comfortable aura surrounding her, a sultry smirk plastered on her face. The reddish, gold-flecked eyes that stared back at him were still the same as those of the terrified girl that he remembered from what seemed so long ago, but they now held an affectionate playful glint on them. And understanding came upon them as Keitaro managed to convey that he would at least like the gag removed.

Naturally, the blood curling screamed that followed explained exactly how he felt about this whole ridiculous situation.

(O)

"Su?" a raven hair goddess questioned, too distracted by the aforementioned Molmolian to continue her training regime. Though she could normally tune out the tanned teen, the extra _katas_ she was undertaking put quite a toll on her body _and_ concentration.

"Hai!" the younger woman exclaimed, discreetly filing away in her head that Motoko did look beautiful with her hair matted all over her from the strains of practice. The biting winter air, however, was taking advantage of Motoko's sudden inaction and left her shivering with only her sweat-soaked _hakama_ and _gi_ covering her.

(Annoyance) "What are you doing?"

(Ecstatic) "An experiment!"

(Shudder) "Why here?"

(Gizmos going off in the background) "I'm looking for energy fluctuations from higher dimensions, and trying to pinpoint them with the spy satellite that your sister let me play with!"

(Shock!) "Ane-ue?"

(Beeping) "HAI!"

(Resign) "But why?"

(Confusion) "To help find the banana that Motoko and her Sister are looking for…"

(More confusion) "Banana…?"

(Acknowledgement) "Yeah, the one that blew up the mountain place and everything was like 'Boom!' and 'Ka-blooey!' "

(Slit eyed suspicion) "You mean the demon…"

(Gravely) "Hai…"

(O)

_MIA, Special Services: Classified Historical Archives_

Colonel Kassquit, SRDF: Release please, my eye bud.

Su: Ooo... your eyesockets are just like a chameleon!

Sarah: And his tail coils too!

Sound of people being restrained

Kassquit: Then, now, return we to objective, my. All the time beat Keitaro, why?

Su: Cause he's a really fun banana! I had hit him, punch him, shoot him blow him up... continues list of things she can do in the background

Sarah: Cause he's such a stupid idiot ronin! Its just really easy to pick on him!

Kassquit: Towards him, hostile intentions have you?

Sarah: Not really. He was just easy to bully.

Su: … and set him on fire. I loved him like my own younger brother! He was my most favorite-ist toy.

Kassquit: How feel, you, when leave, him?

Sarah: I thought it was pretty cool. I heard he caused a hella lot of trouble.

Su: Su was confused. Keitaro never got mad like that before.

Kassquit: If see him again, what do, would you?

Sarah: Artifact to the head.

Su: Su would hold onto him. Su wouldn't let go. Su doesn't want Keitaro to leave again...

(O)

Of all the nerve… _How dare she?_ Someone like Kaolla? _How could she?_ Surely the search for the mysterious demon thing was not going so badly as to require the assistant of the resident monk- er… mad- er… Molmolian. (Yeah…)

"Sister!" Motoko exclaimed sharply, before realizing that she was not regarding her elder and superior in the proper manner and went to the floor on her knees. "Sorry… for the intrusion," she started again, humbly. Not even _Amalla_, Su's own older sister was willing to step in the way. All she did was shrug and say "As long as it keeps her busy and things don't blow up…", then take Sarah and her albino reptile (which had taken to liking the mischievous blonde American) on a walk.

"Motoko-han?" Tsuroko questioned, her full attention focused on her dear younger sister. Though the informal intrusion had given the older woman the flutter of hope that her younger sister had thawed while training her new apprentice, the butterfly was sliced metaphorically by the blade of the metaphorical _Bushido_ once Motoko sat down in a _proper_ manner.

"There is a matter with which I wish to speak to you," the younger woman explained, straining not to bluntly ask her why the _hell_ she asked a mere child, a child who was still pure of the dark _shadow world_ (well… sort of), to aid in the fight against the demon scum that Shinmei Ryu had dealt with for centuries.

"Kaolla-kun," Tsuroko said knowingly, causing Motoko's right brow to twitch.

_Sister's manner of speech has grown so callous since she met that pervert of a ma-_

She destroyed that line of thinking before she finished it. It had not really been that long since she had learned the error of her ways, and she would not allow herself to make those unfounded assumptions, _No matter how flustered I am…_

"Yes," Motoko acknowledged, but Tsuroko cut her off before she could continue.

"It is not the type of demon we thought it to be…" she said gravely, her face slightly tired, taking Motoko by surprise. The only time that she had ever exposed herself, shown that she was as fragile and vulnerable as any other woman, was when their father had died.

"But surly the services of Su" _and all that entails_ she added mentally, "are not necessary to merely find a simple… (uh)"

"Abomination," Tsuroko completed for her dear sister, though the acid and hate in her voice made even the proud Motoko Aoyama, heir to the Shinmei Ryu cringe in fear. Whatever this abomination was, Tsuroko was taking it as seriously as…

"Motoko-han," the older woman suddenly said cheerfully, breaking the sister's train of thought. "Would you care to partake in some tea?"

_Huh?_ the little girl thought, dumbstruck. Gone was the battle hardened warrior that Motoko had grown to fear and respect, replaced by the soft housewife that she had grown to despise.

"Tea?" the elder insisted, pouring some into a cup that magically appeared with a steaming pot. _But we didn't even discuss the original problem at hand!_ she thought with an awkward look on her face. It was as if some great, magnificent[, handsome] force had conspired to conveniently end a problematic discussion that could have seriously caused the "story" (_What story?!_) to deviate from a predetermined "plot" (_Ane-ue!!!_).

(O)

"Mou…" Sakura whined, gingerly adding the balm to the infernal wound that Keitaro had apparently suffered by her hands. Exactly when did her Keitaro get so whimpy? One second, they were going at it just like Sakura dreamed they would when she had spied on him obliterating that undead rat-like creature; the next, he was screaming like a girl… "If you were really in pain, you should have just said so…"

"Gagged!" Keitaro repeated, starting to think that the woman behind him had a serious case of tunnel vision. _Seriously! What the hell is going on, and why the hell is this happening to me?_ "Ow!" Keitaro yelped when Sakura accidentally rubbed a tender spot too quickly.

"Mo…" Sakura whined again, "wimp…" After an excruciating healing session (_I thought I was immortal and etc!_), Keitaro slowly started walking around, trying to find the right set of movements that would cause the least agitation to his poop-hole. Whimpering like a child with its first painful wound, Keitaro finally found the optimal range of movements.

"Well, thanks for the help," Keitaro started as usual, but then memories started catching up as to why he was thanking her, "I think… But I should really get going now…"

He walked to the door that led to the gigantic hallway that led to the ridiculous reception room that was joined to the magnificent front lawn outside by a meticulously decorated pair of large mahogany doors. But just as he was about to slip into *relative* safety, a pair of serpentine arms slithered around his waist, slowly pulling him into the embrace of a soft, warm body. Though he wanted to continue walking, the fresh wound hurt too much for him to summon the power necessary to skedaddle, though the pain _was_ starting to numb as it used to.

"Where are you going?" the voice that was part of the mesh that the arms belonged to whispered into his right ear, caressing it with its sultry breath. Though Keitaro _did_ want to leave, his brain was slightly busy processing all the hormones that were kicking in to think clearly enough to answer her. Taking Keitaro's silence as consent, even though it was just hormonal shock, one of the arms moved down to his fly, and slipped inside, swallowing the prize.

The fact that the "prize" was still tender broke Keitaro out of his trauma and he shoved the woman away with his elbows, the horrible memories of her violations nary an hour ago still burned into his brain (and nether regions). It was really only a reaction, but Keitaro turned back to see if the woman was hurt, and was horrified to find that he had somehow busted her lip. Before he could say anything however, the woman brushed the broken skin with her tongue, looking as if she was savoring the flavor, before she said with hungry eyes, "I knew you liked it rough."

Before Keitaro could make sense of what the red haired woman said, or why her eyes had a predatory glint in them, the woman jumped from her place on the ground, latched onto Keitaro, and caused them to both tumble down. And with animal like frenzy and the efficiency of someone who had done it many times before, Sakura tore through the shell of fabric that stood between her mouth and the savory nut that was inside…

(O)

_February, Spring Semester_

_Tokyo University, Lecture Hall_

_Micro Economics 101_

Sex.

It's all Keitaro used to think about, whenever he had free time while studying for Todai. He had an impressive collection of magazines and other erotic media that he kept well hidden from his parents.

He had always imagined, well fantasized, what it would be like the first time he ever did it. He had always thought that his first would be his promise girl. He had always hoped that it would be the pinnacle of his life. He had always longed for the tender emotions he and his lover would share… the trust… the love…

How cruel reality was.

Keitaro let out a sigh, utterly not paying attention to the lecturer. Though the class was nearly packed, there was a distinctive ring of empty seating around him. It was an open secret who he was associated with, and no one wanted to die a virgin.

But that meant that no one was willing to talk to Keitaro either, except his loyal thugs and self proclaimed girlfriend.

Keitaro sighed again. Just why the hell a girl like her would be interested in a guy like him had had him stumped. Not that he really thought much about it. Ever since he had self-righteously left the Hinata-Sou, Keitaro did not really do much of anything. His memory of the last few months were hazy at best, and he could not really recall doing anything of significance.

He slept a lot. Sometimes it would seem like a few days, or even a week had passed while he slept, but it did not really faze him. At this point in his life, he was just really waiting to die. Not in the sense that he wanted to kill himself, but more in the sense that he did not know why he was alive. There was just no more purpose in his life. He had gotten into Todai, but for what? He was sure that the whole 'promise girl' stuff was just some sad figment of his imagination. Probably something his mind dreamed up because he was soo lonely as a child.

His dreams…

He never slept well anymore. All his dreams were just nightmares. Either some evil mirror image of himself would taunt him, he would think back to life in the Hinata-Sou, or visions of horrible, horrible things would plague him. Murders, extortions, bribery, adultery, and lot and lots of other horrible things that he could never imagine doing. In the least, he was never the one to do the acts; he just gave the orders.

He would always wake up screaming, whenever he woke up from a dream. If not from the terrible images that haunted him in his sleep, then the nightmare that he woke up in.

He always seemed to wake up from some kind of trance in the middle of having "sex" with this random woman who just seemed impossible to get rid of. She was always there, always hounding after him, always being needy, and always trying to get him horny.

But unlike a certain foxy character, Sakura would actually follow through. And it would be a blatant lie if he did not admit that he was at least a _little_ bit grateful for her intentions. Keitaro had finally fulfilled that lifelong desire to lose his virginity, but he was not happy… at least not like he had dreamed he would be. He was not really sad or anything. Mostly terrified though. But he just seemed to be passing by time while living his life now.

He had no purpose.

He accidentally knocked down one of his pencils while droning on and on about how unassuming his life had become. He reached down to grab it, but it was just out of reach. He repositioned himself to get closer, but it was just past his fingertips. He started willing it to come closer, in a vain attempt to get it.

But it was not vain.

As if it had a life of its own, the pencil actually _rolled_ towards him.

His first reaction was to pull his hand back, as if the pencil were molten lead. The pencil stood perfectly still at that point, as if happy to resume being inanimate.

Normally Keitaro would scream. He would be jumping around like a jumbling idiot, announcing for all the world to see an animated inanimate object being perfectly inanimate. Then people would laugh at him and he would end up hanging his head in shame. But that is not what he did. Instead, he considered for a moment what he had just seen. At first, we was trying to rationalize what had happened. Maybe there was a sudden gust on the floor? His rationalizations did not really convince him, so he took the next logical step.

He must have been insane!

Seriously though; it made sense! All those strange nightmares must have had him hallucinating. And he really did have a hard time telling the difference between dream and reality. It was an inevitable safety mechanism to deal with all the insane things that he was not really sure actually happened. So, for all that he knew, he might as well be dreaming right now! Any second now, a US Navy SEALS units, or maybe the Marines would come bursting in the classroom any minute, guns blazing, leading to a miniature war that would leave half of Todai smoking in ruins!

He was afraid, really. He was just trying to find an excuse. The fact of the matter was, Keitaro was very comfortable with what he thought he just saw. He was not comfortable because his life in general made little sense, no. He was comfortable, because it seemed a natural thing.

He tried again.

It rolled.

He really did start accepting the fact that what was happening was actually happening. If not consciously, then subconsciously. Finding his newfound ability highly amusing, Keitaro brought the pencil up to his table and did some other stuff, taking care to hide what he did with his arms and some notebooks. Sure, everyone around him would pretend to no see what he was doing. But for some reason, he had the feeling that something really bad would happen if this ability was discovered. So, in secret, he kept himself amused, until the class finally ended.

He waited a bit, waiting for the last stragglers to leave the class before he himself finally moved. Eagerly waiting outside for him was his fiery, self-proclaimed girlfriend, Sakura. Without even saying anything, she link arms with him and started dragging him around. She seemed to be excited about something or other, and at some point, they ended up in a recreational part of the campus. The area was full of couples hanging out, eating lunch together, fucking behind bushes…

Keitaro had been around this crazy broad long enough to know what she was plotting, but played her game. In all honesty, he had _nothing_ better to do. Besides, he always did wonder what it felt like in public… Sakura kept prattling on and on about something that Keitaro was sure he would be better off not listening to or knowing about.

Just as they reached a bench, Sakura's cell phone conveniently starting to ring. She checked to see who it came from and cursed under her breath, saying "I'm sorry, love, but I really need to take this." She answered the phone with an irritated tone, and hung up quickly. With a pissed of look. She quickly hid it, thinking Keitaro did not notice. "I'm really sorry love, but I need to take care of something really quickly," she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "Just wait for me on that bench for a while," she said as she started walking off in some direction. "I'll be back really soon, I promise!"

Keitaro just stood there speechless. From the look on her face, he had some inkling as to what she was about to do, and decided that sitting down on the bench was a really good idea.

Sakura was taking her time, leaving Keitaro a rare chance to sit by himself and think. He avoided thinking about what he normally thought of, that being suicide, pain, abandonment, etc; the normal. Instead, he opted to reminisce about his childhood. Back then, at least, he could honestly say that he was happy. But whether it was the time he spent playing older brother with Kanako, playing with his parents in their bakery or getting bossed around by Harauka-obasan that he thought about, the happiest moments that he remembered were the memories he had made with his promise girl, and the memories he had made in the Hinata-sou.

The revelation was very shocking. The promise girl thing, was a given, but living in the Hinata-sou? All he had been thinking about about that place was all the bullying, harassment and torture. But given that he was dissociated from the place, he realized that he honestly missed it. Sure, he went through ordeals that would kill most men. But there were some moments.

Of course, Shinobu always doted over him. And though most people would rightfully assume that Su was out to kill him, she was just playing with him in her own way. Same with Sarah. Mutsumi had always been a close friend and confidant, however much she put him into mistaken situations. Mitsune, however much she sexually harassed him, was the only person to really treat him like and adult. Motoko _had_ always tried to push him into becoming a better man. And Naru...

A feeling he hadn't felt in a long time suddenly popped up.

_Longing..._

"Kei..." a voice called out. Keitaro looked up a bit slowly. He first recognized that while Sakura had left him alone, it had already become sundown. The next thing he noticed standing in front of him, was the last thing he expected.

"Narusegawa-san..."

The new form of address visible made her recoil in pain, but she didn't try to run away or anything. Taking a quick moment to collect herself, she finally replied, "I'm glad you're still willing to talk to me..."

The two kept quiet for a while, neither knowing what to say. Finally, Keitaro said, "Would you like to take a seat?"

Naru hesitated. She didn't really know what to do. It seemed that Keitaro had finally cooled off in the months since he had left the dorms. The hate and hardness that had terrified her was no longer there. He just looked... tired.

"I..." Naru started. Her mouth closed when she couldn't continue. She fretted and worried, trying to say with her mouth, what she had practiced millions of times with her mind. It had taken a while for her to catch him, even if she had stumbled upon him totally by accident today.

"I'm sorry," she finally said after a few minutes of agonizing silence. They were both looking straight, at the sunset, so she had no idea as to what his reaction was. She braced for the worst.

After hearing nothing for some time, she turned her head to sneak a peek and was absolutely unprepared for what she saw.

He was smiling. And not some evil smile, or some victorious smile. It was just that gentle smile of his that she and the Hinata-honeys missed so much. His face still looked tired, but Keitaro was starting to look his age, and not the age his new beard hinted towards. Naru continued to ogle him until he finally stirred.

"I forgive you." he said simply. There was nothing forced or subversive about the statement. He simply meant what he said.

"Kei-" Naru started, but Keitaro continued.

"I've forgiven all of you. It might just be that I just needed some space, you know?"

Naru was left speechless.

"I think... that its time we all moved on." Keitaro said, regret plain in his voice. "I just hope that you girls can all forgive me."

Naru froze. Keitaro wanted their forgiveness? All that went through her mind was how much she, and the girls, missed him. How they had nothing to forgive. That all they wanted was for him to be happy again.

Keitaro stood up. Naru took her cue and got up as well.

"Friends?" Keitaro asked, as they both stood facing each other. Naru's mouth opened, but words would not come out. Neurons fired, and she held her hand out to shake. Instead, a goofy smile appeared on his face and before Naru knew it, he had enveloped her in a gentle hug.

She could sense his hesitance. He must have thought that Naru would punch him automatically. But she kept her control. Motoko's training had done her wonders. When she could think again, she moved to return the hug, but was stopped before she could move her arms.

"You BITCH!" a very angry voice screamed. Keitaro suddenly let go of Naru, and moved her behind him protectively.

"You whore!" the woman continued, clearly trying to strangle Naru, but Keitaro kept her out of harms way.

"Sakura, calm down." Keitaro said. He told her how Naru was _just a friend_ and that he wasn't cheating on her, like Sakura was jealously assuming. Defusing the situation, Keitaro bid Naru goodbye, while Sakura held onto his arm, glaring daggers at her.

_Jesus Christ, that could have ended so fucking badly,_ Keitaro thought, his mind acting like a normal person's. Having a problem to focus on did wonders in suppressing one's inner demons.

But, he did have to be proud of himself. He had finally let go of the biggest demon in his heart. He could finally start moving on with his life.

(-)

When Shinobu found Naru, the first thing she thought was that someone had attacked her. But while she consoled the sobbing ex-ronin, she slowly cajoled what happened to her. It turned out that Naru had actually met Keitaro. And not only had she met her, she told her that he forgave them all. When Shinobu, completely ecstatic about the news asked why Naru was crying, Naru told her that it was _because_ he forgave them.

In the end, she felt that she didn't deserve his forgiveness. That she didn't suffer enough to atone for her sins. It took Shinobu some time to calm down her sempai...

(O)

Yurislovak Ivanovich Kerensky, son of a detective, and now the right hand man of the man known to authorities and the underworld as Koishi Urahara, took a drag from his cigarette. When he heard the high pitched scream, he kept on dragging until his lungs were at full capacity. He let the smoke out slowly, relishing the warm feeling it left inside and looked up from the book that he had started reading the other day. In front of him stood Ren, every fiber of every muscle straining not to run outside and find the… woman… who had stolen the one person that cared for her. Though it really was not a concern of his, or even a responsibility, Yuri thought that the girl was seriously contemplating some kind of stupid action.

Internally he chuckled, imagining the pint sized little Chinese whore darting out of the room they were in, fighting her way through the thirty-odd Yakuza that were on order to kill anyone, or any_thing_ that dared to venture into the wing of the mansion wing that was essentially Sakura's room. After the girl with a death wish miraculously made it through the hardened soldiers, she would have to face up to the automatic digital sentries that jealously guarded the wing with stolen secret military hardware, driven by a stolen AI construct made by a renown quantum physicist who had conveniently turned up dead a few days after he had foolishly installed it. After that, there was the simple matter of avoiding military androids toting two .45 caliber chain guns each that patrolled the halls (stolen from the Americans, along with their Abrams and prototype _Comanches_, which their higher-ups had thought to have been scrapped with the termination of the project. Amazing what a few forged documents could do…), genetically enhanced guard dogs, and finally, the harem of eunuchs that were Sakura's person security detail.

_If_ she actually survived that first little obstacle, she would have to deal with Sakura herself, a prospect that even the now veteran Yuri cringed at. Though Sakura specialized in the arts of manipulation, give her a dull knife and you'd wished that you were still sucking on mommy's breast milk. And_ then_, if she _somehow_ made it past Sakura, the stupid Chinese whore would have to deal with Koishi himself, and if Yuri knew Koishi, many child molestation laws would be broken… Just exactly what Ren saw in Koishi, Yuri would never understand, but he had to at least respect her ferocity. There had only been two times he had seen such ferocity. The first time, was at the height of the _War_, as the _Enemy_ were finally being driven back to the breach, their orbiting mass accelerators be damned. The second time, was when Koishi had negotiated for the mysterious Time-Shif-

_Shit!_ he thought, throwing his book aside. As soon as the startled yelp reverberated through the hallway to their room, he saw the foolish child bolt out of the room. Though Yuri had no real reason to save this child, watch over and protect it for as long as he had, he ran after it, every muscle fiber burning from the strain of trying to catch up with a much nimbler and faster prey.

Was it guilt that drove him? It would be normal for anyone to feel guilty about keeping a child under house arrest and watch it feel so much misery.

It could have been pity. Who would possibly envy the kind of life that the child had lived? Born in China, she was begotten to a father that would sooner sell her to slavers than suffer the harsh hardship of being a poor parent in a communist state. Her resilience on the trip from Japan's regional neighbor to the slave houses in Osaka was remarkable, but there was something… wrong about her. Even after going through her file, if one could even call it that, something seemed amiss… something Yuri simply could not point a finger at.

But further speculation would have to wait till later, since the bandwidth of his brain was currently focused on finding that damn Chinese whore and keeping her from killing herself. He looked to his right, and then left and was amazed to see that somehow she had actually subdued the guards that were waiting in the hall, and in the few moments it had taken him to step out no less. Yuri smiled… she really was as ferocious as they could get. He bolted down the hallway, following the trail of dazed or unconscious Yakuza soldiers, carefully listening for the telling sound of another soft thud.

(-)

_Thirty_, a high school student thought in her head. Before her stood the limp form of another Yakuza soldier, the last one she would have to deal with before the actual _hard_ stuff. Not that it would be impossible. Ren was very patient and had learned the strategic layout of the mansion, from the actual floor plans to the monster of a security detail. Being friends with Shinobu had the perk of getting one of her friends to write a super virus that killed the mansion's AI the night before, and now all Ren would have to do was walk past the security system, disable with gun toting security drones and finally strangle that bitch Sakura.

With relish, Ren stepped on the Yukuza's hand as she walked past, imagining all the ways she would murder that bitch.

She stepped up warily to where the virtual security zone started. If the virus had propagated properly, the security system would be deactivated and it would be a walk through the park. _But if that foreign devil got it wrong, I won't even be alive long enough to regret this,_ she thought as she took a careful step forward. When her foot did not instantly vaporize, Ren continued walking into the security zone fully, confident that she would be able to make it to her love.

No one could tell by just looking at her, but Ren was a fighter. She had to be to survive as long as she had, and as a result of the insane hell she had lived through for so much of her life, her body was a machined honed into the arts of killing. Of course, the bondage and starvation she suffered under slaver conditions had had much of a detrimental effect, but she had been getting plenty of exercise during the small respite she had had while under her beloved's charge and was slowly regaining her peak performance. She had always had average reflexes, but they suddenly stopped her right foot from landing on the ground, almost causing her to trip and fall. Though she was not consciously aware of it, her brain had detected an anomaly from slight atmospheric variations. An instant after she started righting herself from tripping, the floor where her foot would have landed suddenly exploded. Another reflex made her left knee twitch and she jumped to her right, rolling on the ground as a trail of more explosions followed her. She stole a glance farther along the corridor to see what the hell was going on and was scared shitless by the sight of a three meter high, .45 caliber gun toting 2 ton spider-looking robot.

She hated spiders, she recalled as the end of her roll gave her cover behind a wall.

(-)

At first she thought that one of the other Houses had finally made a move to take over her father's territory via assassination. But security cameras only showed that it was only the Chinese whore causing the commotion. It was actually entertaining, watching her jump this way and that, trying to get the Spiderz to shoot each other without sacrificing herself in the process. She had one scrape when she accidentally landed too close to a Spiderz and almost had a 10cm hole blown into her abdomen, but to Sakura's consternation, the little Chinese whore ducked in time, causing the Spiderz to tear the hole into a wall instead.

Not that it would matter; Sakura knew the results even before that bitch knocked out the first rent-a-guard. The Spiderz would continue tiring out the little wombat until she had no energy left and go for the kill. Sure, the Spiderz looked like walking turrets, but stupid they were not. The late professor had actually included strategic algorithms that even the IDF would envy within the Spiderz, making them theoretically capable of controlling an actual army. In fact, they were so effective, many technical details involving some Yakuza operations were planned out by the Spiderz.

There! She could see it now, that _cockroach_'s strength almost completely evaporated. The girl stood panting for a second, as the Spiderz finally gave up their charade. Both monsters bore their fangs at their prey, while she helplessly lay witness to her fate.

Even Keitaro, though he lay sleeping beside her, gave an amused giggle, as if he too relished the scene unfolding. Just looking at his calm, angelic sleeping face made her want to hold him again. She lay back down in bed, resting her head on his chest so that she could at least watch the massacre on the monitor while still caressing her beloved.

Poor girl. No human could possibly survive such goliaths… Sakura licked her lips in anticipation.

(O)

It was not humanly possible.

He stood before the scene, mouth agape, his fallen cigarette long forgotten. _What the hell is she?_ he thought in disbelief. Before him stood the husks of the former Spiderz, numerous holes caused by their own .45 caliber weapons fire scarring their frames.

Sounds of barking and small arms fire brought him back to reality, firing up the neurological pathways to his legs and sent him running to where the action was. With no doubt, he knew what he was going to find when he got there, but seeing the corpses of the naked, bloodied eunuchs and their K9 comrades littering the hallway still made him want to vomit.

What kind of monster was she? Something truly was wrong with her, that much he was sure of. But none of that mattered, he realized in a split second.

Without him noticing, a _Katana_ wielding Eunuch neatly split his body in two from behind, in its last bout of life.

_Damn Japs…_

'Thump'

(O)

Sakura took a fleeting glance back at her greatest love, snoring gently as if nothing were going on, before she refocused on the problem at hand. She had not been paying too much attention when the Spiderz had finally bared their fangs, assuming that the end was inevitable, so she did not see exactly _how_ the little Chinese runt had managed to destroy the Spiderz. Normally, she would just rewind the security tape just because she was curious as to how the little bitch had managed to kill off the Spiderz, but the destruction of the Spiderz had caused, what she quickly deduced to be, a power surge or maybe even an EMP discharge. One that had the unfortunate effect of disabling all computing hardware within a reasonable distance of the battle; which unfortunately meant that the mainframe super-computer that controlled the CCTV circuits in the mansion was down, taking the video with it.

Blinded (in the sense that all her cameras were gone; the red emergency lights were glowing) and facing an enemy with some unknown advantage, Sakura quickly changed into her assassin's gear, ready for anything that the little bitch could humanly throw at her. She knew rug rat's target, so it was only a matter of time before she came upon her. Donned in the jet black overalls, and sporting enough weaponry to take down a small army, Sakura left her room, locking the door behind her so that the little runt could not make her way in if she somehow snuck past her. Though Sakura really doubted it had such abilities, the fact remained that the Chinese whore had somehow taken down the Spiderz and Sakura was not willing to take her lightly.

The smell of blood made her excited. She ran down to hall, thinking that she would be faced with a savage battle between her elite eunuchs and the K9 companions. But to her shock,

and disappointment

all she saw was her guardians dead on the floor.

And silence.

Sakura was suddenly wary, sensing a trap. She cautiously went through the graveyard illuminated in red, inspecting the lifeless bodies that lay on the floor. She stopped when she saw the two halves of a Russian man's body on the floor, a look of shock frozen onto it.

"Who is this?" Sakura wondered, not recognizing the Russian in the least.

She continued, paying the unknown man no heed, as if she had never met him before in her life.

But there was no trap. None of the bodies suddenly flew into the air, trying to attack her. Sakura was dumbfounded. Did the whore just turn back in cowardice? No… who would stop after going so far? Even if Sakura made a most formidable opponent, she had seen the determination in that brat's eyes.

Something was up.

Normal lights suddenly turned on, as backup systems finally activated. Sakura, thinking that maybe the Chinese girl had given her the slip, ran back to her room. Thanking Satan, she found that the doors were still locked close. Just to be sure though, she went back inside.

That nothing exploded in her face, or attempted to slit her jugular made her a little more comfortable, though just a little. Every sense in her _extremely_ hot body, covered in the skin tight, black assassin's gear, screamed that something was wrong. And she found out what when she looked at her bed.

Keitaro was gone.

(O)

Tsuroko felt bad, hiding things like this from her baby sister. She truly was becoming of age to learn the more secretive natures of the Aoyama clan, Tsuroko gave her little sister that much. But if she could not even identify the burden of the near invisible would that she carried, she could not be anywhere near ready to learn of the other realms that existed in all existence.

While the babe slept, Tsuroko gently applied the balm to the wounded leg. Being otherworldly, the medicine quickly did its work, earning a soft sigh of pleasure from the sleeping younger sister.

_Sleep well_, Tsuroko thought tenderly, stroking some hair off of her smiling sister's face.

She frowned a little, thinking about what was to come. Aoyama intelligence had finally pinpointed the lair of the beast. Unsurprisingly, the location was the HQ of the newly reformed Yakuza. Reconnaissance of the building proved difficult, as the Black Ninja Stars protected it well. There were only two choices in terms of eliminating the beast. A full frontal attack, or to wait it out and let itself show.

Though Tsuroko had originally thought it best to wait, she had since changed her mind. With the massacre of the old Yakuza, she had thought that the monster could be tamed. Maybe even become a champion for good. But it seemed that it was just using the massacre as a means of consolidating its power.

The monster seemed to have some large plans in mind as well, as the new Yakuza's activities had increased tension among the world's greatest powers, threatening to spill over into all-out global war.

Which would be good for Yakuza, as war was only good for business. But Tsuroko could only think that the monster had some other, darker intention. Simple war would never satiate a being like itself.

Her cell phone vibrated.

"_Moshi moshi,"_ she whispered discreetly, leaving Motoko alone in her room.

"The beast stirs within the lair," the other side said cryptically, hanging up without waiting. Tsuroko took the cue to leave the Hinata-Sou.

"Something is happening," she whispered to herself as she bounded past the mansion.

(O)

As the life blood of a certain deceased Russian drained from his body, wisps of smoke started bubbling from the crimson fluid. The bubbling liquid quickly started boiling as the liquid started to evaporate to nothing, disappearing to quickly that the floor betrayed no signs of blood spilled from the former 2nd hand man. The dead flesh started to ripple too, until the body started popping like a piece of meat left in the microwave for too long. Bits of flesh flew in all directions, but disappeared into nothingness before they could leave any marks of evidence. Flesh liquefied and melted as it to disappeared to the netherworld as the blood had, only moments ago, until all that was left was the bone. But the bone, too, started showing signs of this impossible phenomenon as it became completely desiccated, all flesh and fluid stripped out by some unknown force or agent. The bone, dry as sand, started crumbling, as its fibrous constituents lost their internal bonding and the bones broke down into a fine white dust, which also suddenly disappeared.

In moments, the only hint of the existence of the human known as "Yurislovak Ivanovich Kerensky" was an empty spot in a sea of corpses.

(O)

"Find that little bitch!" Sakura screamed into her radio, summoning every foot soldier and ninja at her disposal. She did not know how the little runt had disappeared, but she had some how made away with one of the cars in the garage and drove away unnoticed.

But the only reason Sakura cared at all, was because, that little _wombat_ had made away with _her_ man!

"And when you find her," she screamed into the electronic device in her right hand, while her left hand grabbed a nearby grunt's windpipe. "KILL HER!" she screamed, crushing said grunt's windpipe.

(O)

_Again, the darkness. Why did it always have to be dark?_

_All senses of time and space seemed meaningless._

Transcend time and space_, something countered._

What the hell are you!_ Keitaro thought sharply in annoyance. Yes, he was used to being pushed around. It was just business as usual for most men in Japan. But after all he'd been through since he left the dorms, he figured that he would finally get some respect. Dammit, _he_ was the leader of a new, more powerful _Yakuza_!_

Some leader…_, the same something droned._

Ursai!_ Keitaro retorted back, only to be met by silence. A pitch black that seemed to swallow him whole. But the black started to ripple again, as if his anger was somehow taking form._

**Yes, let the anger grow!**_, a new something encouraged, though Keitaro could only scowl at it. Yes, it was the "voice" of his other self._

_The other him._

**Long time no see, friend**_, the reflection in the black sneered, the arrogance in its voice conceited enough to make even a Saudi proud._

(-O-)

I wonder if anyone caught my little joke?

Final Chapter Preview:

**Fifteen minutes later, she heard some shuffling. **_**Oh crap**_**, Haruka thought as the girls burst into the tea house.**

"**Is it really true?!"**

"**Is Sempai really coming back?"**

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**Remember, click the 'Go' button on your way out. (Flames are still understandable and especially welcome if critical)**

**Cheers :)**


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